Oh, man ... Dana Milbank is so not invited to the White House Christmas party this year. Not after this gem:
The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere.
The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was "trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression," Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.
And, of course, in addition to the awkward fidgeting, there's Commander George W. Chimpster just being his totally disconnected, tactless self:
Certainly, Bush retained many of the gestures that work well for him: the purposeful but restrained hand gestures, the head-tilted smile of amusement and the easy laugh. But he seemed to lose control of the timing. He smiled after observing that Iraqis are "paying a serious price" because of terrorism.
Yeah, paying a serious price -- always a good opener when you're looking to break the ice. Always gets a laugh from the car-bomb crowd, ya know.
BY THE WAY, this is not the first time Milbank has pissed off the current administration. Once upon a time, he became positively radioactive for a while after taking a swipe at the brush clearing of King George thusly:
President Bush has been seldom seen in the waning days of 2002. On Friday, while North Korea was spreading nuclear panic in Asia, a White House spokesman announced that the president spent the morning "clearing brush" and then went jogging; yesterday it was fishing and more brush clearing...
All of which raises various questions. With all the time the president has spent clearing brush, how is it possible that there is still any brush left on his ranch? And what is he doing about North Korea's nuclear shenanigans?
Rumour has it that Milbank was not a popular press person around Chimpy and the Chimpettes for a while thereafter. Note to Dana: get used to it.
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