Christmas is not so merry this year. This year we did not put up our family Christmas pinecone wreath. It seems we have run out of pinecones. This year we were told our pinecone source was verboten. In the interest of homeland security people are not allowed to walk around local water sources. Well OK, I’m an American and it’s my water source so perhaps if I saw three guys in turbans pouring white powder into the water supply I might be inclined to call the cops. But since my family can no longer enjoy a peaceful walk among tall pine trees, a simple family pleasure is no more. Now that I will soon be a grandfather it would appear that we will not be passing this family tradition down either.
Hey, can’t wait for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. I am going to find the largest possible flag I can find and nail it up on the house. Upside down, the signal of a country in distress. That’s what the “war on terror” has done for this country. The terrorists won.
Christmas is not so merry this year. This year we did not put up our family Christmas pinecone wreath. It seems we have run out of pinecones. This year we were told our pinecone source was verboten. In the interest of homeland security people are not allowed to walk around local water sources. Well OK, I’m an American and it’s my water source so perhaps if I saw three guys in turbans pouring white powder into the water supply I might be inclined to call the cops. But since my family can no longer enjoy a peaceful walk among tall pine trees, a simple family pleasure is no more. Now that I will soon be a grandfather it would appear that we will not be passing this family tradition down either.
Hey, can’t wait for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. I am going to find the largest possible flag I can find and nail it up on the house. Upside down, the signal of a country in distress. That’s what the “war on terror” has done for this country. The terrorists won.

The interviews are an outrage both because the President himself is an outrage but also because the questions were as soft as butter. To ask the President "how he feels" to see himself criticized in the national press is to imply that it is somehow shocking that the press should criticize him at all. Who cares how he feels? Brian -- you were not interviewing a celebrity movie star! This is our Commander in Chief! Even the "tougher" questions asked were phrased in such a way as to suggest, "I know it's not nice to say these things, but . . ." We Americans need to stop tolerating this kind of propaganda disguising itself as journalism. It's destroying our country.

Brian,
Where's he outrage?! I'm asuming that Lisa Myers will continue to report tonight that the Pentagon is spying on private citizens (i.e. that Quaker group) who were just gathering as a group of concerned citizens and that they have actually been labeled by the U.S Government as a threat to the national security!! My god, what's happening to my country!! Don't people realize that most police state countries weren't overthrown, they were stolen by their "leaders" who frightened the people with awful tales of external and internal enemies and convinced tham that that the only way to be secure was to allow the state to "protect" them. Then gradually the government changes the definition of "enemy" to fit and achieve their own political goals. Here we go, we're starting down that path! Ironically, this whole police state movement it's being lead by the self-rightous Conservative movement that claims to dearly value America's freedoms and diversity but is clearly terrified by both! Enemies everywhere!! Terrorists! Evil doers! The Media! The Christmas haters! The Democrats want America to lose the war. Liberals are a threat to our way fo life! Just ask Rush and Sean! No wonder we need the military to spy on citizens!! Take those Quakers and put them in Gitmo for an indefinite period with no charges filed. Torture them, they're probably closet Democrats, or, even worse, Liberals! The US government reserves the right to torture "suspects" to protect our national security! Why aren't people outraged at such governmental behavior. I'll bet that past generations would have been furious! Why is the Media reporting on citizen spying as if it is some anolomous, trivial, man bites dog human interest story?! This Bush Administration clearly has a governing style and a set of values that is compatible with that of a police state. I've always wondered about the value of a two-term presidency. Now I thank God that theses people, will be gone in three years. This country is curently facing its biggest threat ever to our freedoms: the George W. Bush Administration.

After all the recent press that the President has been operating in a bubble, even alienated to some extent from his father, it was heartening to see ANY press allowed to travel and talk with him at all. The questions were there, along with the respect the office, if not the man, deserves, and the answers or lack of adequate answers should be laid at Bush's feet, not Brian Williams. He asked the right ones, Bush merely continued to demonstrate the style and lack of substance that got him elected TWICE. Where was this outrage 13 months ago when we held an election, basically a referendum, on Bush's policies and abilities?
Good work on getting Bush on the air at all. He continues to reveal himself as shallow, handled, and smug. That is not Brian William's fault.

In submitting this as an addendum to my former thoughts on the matter, I wonder what were the original intentions in doing this so called interview in the first place? What would Bush divulge that he hadn't? How hard hitting were Mr. William's questions that might dislodge any information which the White House has refused to deliver? In the various interviews I have seen with W. it seems to me that his only use of the interview time is not necessarily to anticipate the myriad of questions that can come forth in that these questions may have been already put through to the White House hours before the interview took place and were therefore "found approved". No, what comes across to me is that Bush utilizes this time as a means to actually take advantage of the interviewer and either overpower or demean him. I am of the opinion that nothing can be learned from this president that he doesn't want revealed and that is his entire presidency. Which presses the claim that Bush uses this time only for PR purposes. Believe me, he is not JFK or even Nixon when it comes to being interviewed. He is another Machiavelli altogether!

Like it or not, Brian, you are going to have to jump "into the fray ". Either you or someone from NBC news must answer up . Was it just a matter of ratings ? Is that what the Nightly News has become ?

I have no problem with you being courteous to the President. Or no problem with the questions.

To me, the bottom line is that you sold your soul to the devil for this interview . The issue must be addressed. If the news organizations are to be simply used for propaganda then where does one turn for the "honest " news.

I am extremely disappointed .

Watching from Canada

Congratulations, Brian! The White House group is showing its first signs of awareness that the Nation is made up of people with whom you and your colleagues communicate much better than they. You would not have been chosen had it not been for your sense of fairness and humanity and most of all, your professionalism. Merry Christmas.

Brian Williams did a great job interviewing the President. He can't help it if the Prez is a dork! I thought Brian asked some very good questions and he just happened to get some lame, generic answers.

Plus, Brian has never been the bashing type of interviewer. He's always been curtious and polite to everyone he's interviewed. That's what makes Brian....Brian.

Now that you have the quote, again, from Bush about how he will take care of fixing New Orleans, I hope you will continue to press on that issue for all of us here. Sorry I had to sit through most of the same old same old to hear it, and I honestly don't believe a word that comes out of that man's mouth, but you, Brian, have the presence and credentials and credibility to keep this at the forefront.

So, "...and a New Orleans that's a shining light down there and a Gulf Coast of Mississippi that's been rebuilt and is vibrant and thriving."
If Mr. bush reads the newspapers, as he claims, he's been missing his subscription to the Times-Picayune.
This is classic "who are you going to beleive, me or your own eyes" moment.
I'm one of the 70 odd thousand out of the over 400,000 that use to live here that are back in New Orelans and to call it rebuilt and thriving is to say that we've found the WMD's in Iraq. It would tear your heart apart to drive through this once beautiful city and see what has NOT been done. Rebuilt? 80% of the city is uninhabitable. 70% of the street lights still aren't working over 100 days after Katrina hit. Garbage and debis on every street. Only a small fraction of the small businesses have returned and the rest most likely won't because Mr. Bush has failed to properly fund the recovery effort like he promised.

I too was disappointed with the interview with Mr. Bush (I refuse to call him president). The cup cake questions were a big dis-service to the public who want real answers to tough questions. Although I respect Brian Williams and understand he needs to be respectful to Mr. Bush for future "interviews", I feel he has let down his viewers. In the future Brian, please don't be afraid of Karl Rove and his henchmen, ask the tough questions and don't be afraid to follow up when you don't get a straight or honest answer, the public expect that.

I just read the article on the government 'spying' on us. My first reaction is - the media seems to want their cake and eat it too! If there is a terrorist event in this country the reaction is we should have done more to prevent it. We should have been paying closer attention. If the government tries to keep a closer check on the pulse of our country by watching those groups that outwardly protest our policies and direction, as a country, they are the bad guys. How do they win? How do they keep us safe without watching closely? I believe the media is out of hand and is not in agreement with the majority of Americans. I believe the media could sometimes be considered traitors to our country. Why can't they be on 'our' side and fight for our country instead of against it?

Goodness Gracious! The comments regarding your interview of The President... Brian, I think people are diverting their anger towards The President, on you, which is not fair. Just take the best from the comments and ignore the rest.

It appears that NBC News and Brian was sucked into the white house spin machine. Being granted the rare one on one interiew and a ride in air force one with an interview in the private office of the potusa made the interviewer an unwitting accomplice of the president in serving up self serving questions with no rebuttal to obvious falsehoods which are repeated time and time again without any help from a major newtork and their anchor.

His aides were pleased because once again he was able to get away with a surface presidency in which words are rarely followed with thought or action, programs are rarely followed up with funding, things are stated as they should be and not how they are, whole premises are changed without respect to those that preceded them. This was a failed piece of work, surprisingly so from NBC and Brian Williams. Please, somebody, use your considerable power of the media to get to the truth and hold people truly accountable. You work for us, not for them.

Sad to say, but I now believe that any journalist allowed to interview this president has been deemed 'friendly' or worse, 'sympathetic' and should recuse themselves until an impartial lottery is established as the means of access.

Anyone note the answer by Mr. Bush to the question about our welcome in Iraq -- We are welcome; it just was not a peaceful welcome. an understatement at best. The handlers need to look up the meaning of welcome.

It is amazing to watch journalists like Brian Williams gloat over an exclusive interview. A occasional graphic in the corner to remind readers that it is an "exclusive" is one thing. However, devoting the entire broadcast to this gloating over this exclusive access to the President is another thing entirely. Did the NBC really expect any real news to come out of their interview with Bush? Did they really think he would tell Brian Williams something that Scott McClellan would not? While I have to disagree with the other comments about "soft ball" questions, I think the broadcast was a shame to journalism, an embarresment Nightly News would do well to learn from and avoid in the future.

I read the transcript of the interviews twice. The first time I came away with the feeling that the president didn't say anything new and a sense that the interviewer was somewhat at fault. On second reading of the transcript, I had more of a sense of thoughtful questions prepared in advance (by a journalist, not a PR writer), but more obviously, limited time to cover many topics. Perhaps that limited the followup that everyone wants. However, I also think people want an interview to have some sort of Perry Mason "gotcha" moment, but life seldom works that way. We have seen TV journalists trying a more combative approach (Anderson Cooper with the Louisiana governor, Tim Russert with Michael Chertoff, even Dan Rather with George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon), but I can't recall an instance where that approach resulted in a dramatic confession from the interviewee. I would love nothing more than for President Bush to excoriate Michael Brown or thoughtfully ruminate on the consequences of the Iraq war, but it's not going to happen. The president sticks to his positions on Katrina and Iraq, and he doesn't have a new way to explain his philosophy. Is that Brian Williams' fault? You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.

I must add my complete dismay that NBC and Brian Williams considered the Day with the President piece to be "news". I watch NBC to get an unbiased perspective on world events, not to see a staged PR piece ... the RNC already owns FOX to get their message out. I don't know the "gound rules" that Mr. Williams was working to but where were the challeging follow-up questions to the obviously pre-packaged, rehearsed responses to the initial softball questions. I am very, very disappointed.

Although a faithful viewer of the NBC Nightly News, I skipped it yesterday when Brian Williams provided the President with more propaganda time masquerading as news. I too am very disappointed with the judgement of Mr. Williams and anyone else in your organization who thought that much coverage of the President was a)newsworthy and b) a good idea.

Puffballs, softballs...my stomach was balled into a knot after reading the transcript of Mr. William's Oval Office "interview" w/Pres. Bush. With all the pertinent, pressing disasters going on in (& out of) this country (many of which Bush is either responsible for starting, perpetuating, or ignoring e.g. the war, first amendment issues, poverty, environment etc.) it is appalling to me - and should be appalling to all serious-minded journalists - that Mr. Williams wasted this opportunity. Sadly, it's clear that 1) Mr. Williams/NBC are not going to lead the pack in restoring credibility to TV news journalism and 2) Mr. Williams' words to Mr. Bush are all too true: Mr. Bush's father will never have to worry about watching Williams' broadcast.

I appear to be in the minority here, but I enjoyed the interview with President Bush very much. I'm utterly baffled when I read that Brian William's journalistic integrity is being questioned. I saw a man who knows how to respect the office of the president, something terribly lacking these days.

If the recent debacles with Judith Miller and Bob Woodward have any lessons for us, it is that "special access" to people with power can be extremely corrosive to a journalist's ability to report the news fairly. That's why it's disturbing to see NBC trumpeting its "exclusive interview" which ended up being little more than a "Gee, what an affable guy the President is" sort of piece. Inevitably, such pieces make the viewers suspect that promises of such "exclusive access" will undermine reporters' ability to report the news. How magnanimous the president was to speak with you! How kind to let you "see backstage"! Many of us can't help but wonder if you will remember such "kindnesses" when it comes time to possibly report on some scandal or mis-step of this administration.

Thus our skepticism and worries.

The coverage piece with the President brought to mind such things as embedded, or even a Barbara Walters personality show. This was not reporting, it was NBC sponsored PR work. Bush looked like he was reading cue cards to field the softballs. It would be nice to know if, or should I say when, the questions were fed to the administration. It was not believable journalism