Bush Bubble Pushback

If the Bush-is-not-really-in-a-bubble spin campaign hopes to restore the president's credibility, I'm not sure that a sit-down interview with official state-run media is the way to do it. They might try having him field questions from somebody other than an administration lickspittle like Britt Hume.

And, if the point is to demonstrate that Bush is, in fact, not in a bubble, it would help to have him avoid saying things that demonstrate that he is almost totally disconnected from reality (italics added -ed.):

BUSH: Well, first of all, I feel Duke Cunningham was wrong and should be punished for what he did. And I think anybody who does what he did should be punished, Republican or Democrat. Secondly, I'm — you know, the Abramoff — I'm frankly, not all that familiar with a lot that's going on up there on Capitol Hill. But it seems like to me that he was an equal money dispenser, that he was giving money to people in both political parties. Yes, I mean, it's really important for all of us in public life to have the highest of ethics. So we can only trust the American people.

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HUME: Do you just — do you believe [Tom DeLay is] innocent?

BUSH: Do I? Yes, I do.

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HUME: Can you say today that if you had known then what you know now about the weapons, that you would have made the same decision.

BUSH: I said it today, and I said it at the last speech I gave.

And I've said it throughout the campaign to the American people. I said I made the right decision. Knowing what I know today, I would have still made that decision.

***
HUME: Now if you had this — if the weapons had been out of the equation, because the intelligence did not conclude that he had them, it was still the right call?

BUSH: Absolutely.

***
BUSH: I hope that first, as a person, I'll be remembered as a fellow who had his priorities straight: his faith, his family and his friends are a central part of his life.

Secondly, I hope to be remembered, from a personal perspective, as a fellow who had lived life to the fullest and gave it his all. And thirdly, I'd like to be remembered as the president who used American influence for the good of the world: bastioning freedom and fighting disease and poverty, by recognizing to whom much is given, much is required and that — that I wasn't afraid to make a decision.

I'm not saying it's impossible for Bush to turn this around, but he'll have to do better than this.

Ironically, the only way he can do better, is to acknowledge that what he is doing is not working. This, as we all know, is a metaphysical impossibility for George W. Bush.

It's going to be a long three years.