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Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
In the hopes of distracting us from the spinning of the UN loop before Gatti vanishes into some time vortex, did anyone watch Bush's speech last night? There wasn't much new besides the proposal to bulldoze Abu Ghraib, so I kind of found myself watching Bush's mannerisms more than concentrating on the words he was saying.
I don't know if the strain is getting to him or the military audience wasn't applauding at the right times or what, but he seemed to be more off-balance than usual. For instance what we lefties usually deride as his smirk kind of morphed into an amiable half-smile, almost a "you guys believe me, right?" But the half-smile would come out at weird times, like when he was describing Brahimi's work. And it seemed like he kept leaning over the podium as if to make sure that there were people in the front row and they were paying attention. Did anyone else notice this?
This really isn't a rip-on-Bush's-speaking-style rant; I save those for DU and my repartee with the baggers at the whole foods coop. On the plus side for Bush, I will say that he certainly looks better giving a prepared speech than he does taking inpromptu questions, and his first look away from the teleprompters into the camera for the "we will not fail" line at the end was good theater too. I guess I'm just curious if someone who has watched him more often got the same impression I did.
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I heard portions of it but did not see it, so I can't speak to his mannerisms.
What surprises me, though, is the announcement of a series of 5-6 speeches leading up to the transfer. Speech #1 covered essentially no new ground. Except for repeating the name of whomever Brahimi picks (which will probably be a full speech in itself), what on earth to they plan on having Bush say for so many more speeches?
