I attended Bush's lecture at Kansas State University last Monday. Nearly a 1000 tickets were allotted to U. S. Army personnel, most of them recently back from Iraq. (I did notice that they didn't appear overly enthusiastic. However, they were probably delighted to be anywhere where they didn't have to worry about being shot or blown up by roadside explosives.) Those in the seats on the floor (about 1000) were the donors to the lecture series (chiefly wealthy Republicans). They had the easiest access to the microphones for the Q & A session, thus explaining many of the softball questions posed to Bush. Most of the tickets (distributed for only four hours last Thursday) were allotted to students, most of whom were young Republicans willing to get up early and stand in line for hours for a chance to fawn over their hero. Contrary to what White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan claimed, most of the Kansas State University faculty did NOT attend. In fact, the faculty section had a conspicuous number of empty seats.

Kudos to the students who asked Bush about his administration's cuts in education funding (which he first appeared surprised to learn about and then tried to pass off as an improvement in the student loan program), to the student who questioned him about nuclear disarmament (and yes, Bush did say nucular, regardless of what the official transcript released by the White House Press Office), and to the young man who posed the Brokeback Mountain question. Bush's discomforture in trying to come up with any response to the question about his movie-viewing habits which would satisfy his religious right base was readily apparent from his body language and his pained facial expressions (not shown in a lot of the clips circulating on the net).

If President Bush truly were a man of great character, he could have replied that all people (including those depicted in Brokeback Mountain) deserve equal rights under the law, not just those who agree with his homophobic supporters.

Frank Luntz is at it again! Now, the new take on domestic surveillance is being termed something like terrorist surveillance program. Luntz is probably the guy who keyed on the Clear Sky Initiatives to actually allow for greater amount of pollutants and so forth. So, here we have a group of people who want to confabulate the sense of direction by giving it the opposite meaning. Something named good for something utterly bad. When encountering a salesman who uses the same procedure to sell a car, for example, the average person can discern the attempt to unload. Is it possible that this Bush Bunch is trying to unload an unsavory government upon a citizenry of potential buyers who cannot tell the difference? Luntz is the type of guy when selling his car to utilize "racing dents", "three tires for streamlining", and "no windshield for in-your-face thrills" so as to get rid of a stinking deal. I am of the opinion that this entire government smells to high heaven, with or without the Luntz types. Caveat Emptor! Who can believe these guys anymore!

I don't understand comments such as those posted by William Turner and Tom Wallingford.

1) Bush didn't "easily defeat" Kerry. If Kerry had won Ohio, Bush would've lost. Kerry set a record for most votes received for a candidate running against an incumbent president.

2) No one -- not even the most left liberal -- has ever expected perfection from a US president. Something remotely approaching average speaking and thinking-on-his-own-feet ability would be a nice, positive change from what so many of us can easily see/read/hear now.

3) Never before have I ever heard the winning side tell the losing side (post presidential election): "We won. You lost. Get over it and move on."

4) Dissent is patriotic. There's no way -- and nothing in the Constitution that says -- I should keep my mouth shut just because my candidate lost. The Bush administration -- with the help of more than a few spineless Democrats -- is turning this country's government into a one-party system.

5) Once Alito is sworn in, "Pleasantville" will become a reality in this country. 1950s politics (McCarthyism) are already here. 1950s culture won't be far behind.

6) The President and Vice President used to try to make Americans feel safer, not make them more ignorant and fearful.

I can hardly watch him anymore. He is an embarrasment to the USA and to Texas. I'm seeing less and less of the W stickers on cars in the Dallas area. So many of my Republican friends are sick of him. God help us before it is to late!

I wake up every morning, hoping I'll be surprised by hearing or reading something indicating that our president has gotten a clue. And every evening I go to bed disappointed. These little tour stops are nice for the Bushies, but I hope W's staff and supporters realize that the rest of us can see right through all the staging (his audiences are invitation only, so the questions can't be too dangerous, can they?) I don't hate the man, I just want a brief glimpse of hope that he's got some kind of grey matter between the ears.

While internally this country is crumbling the president feels the need to substantiate his NSA decision. He should be in his office leading the country to resolve the pressing issues like health care, the deficit, oil and gas prices and alternitive solutions to this form of energy, decaying infrastructor and jobs jobs jobs that pay a legitmate wage. The occupation of Iraq and the so called war on terrorism are far from home. Look around Mr. Presidant. Open your eyes. Try to look beyond your wealthy constituents and see the real America that we are living in.

I'm SO glad to read these other comments before me and be assured that at least some of the population aren't fooled by these carefully screened and scripted performances. I don't really believe an "open audience" would not contain at least a few vocal mothers and/or fathers who've lost sons and daughters in Iraq, or a family that has no healthcare or an elderly person that has to cut their prescriptions use in order to eat. It's the attitude that we can be duped so easily that infuriates me with this lousy administration.

I can't bring myself to watch the speeches anymore. I'm am sure that the soliders getting ready to deploy are worried about which movies our President is seeing.

While the exchange wtih the KS rancher may not have been scripted, we all know that many of his events are totally scripted and rehearsed (rememebr the video of the troops in Iraq being 'prepped'?). and have you noticed who the audience is for the majority of his speeches? Millitary personnel who can be counted on to sit quietly while their ultimate boss speaks and devout and proven supporters who can also be counted on to sit quietly and not question what is said. Can you spell propaganda?

Besides being out of touch with the rest of the world on just about every level, what strikes me is that 6 years into his term he still has no command of the english language. In the first exchange in your artical with a member of the audience he is asked if he has seen Broke Back Mountain. His reply; "I hadn't seen it". Not to be confused with no I have not seen that. He is an embaressment to this nation.

His obsession with Iraq and Osama has blindfolded him in not realizing the close danger that the USA is with Chavez in Venezuela and the new elected coca president Evo Morales in Bolivia. The whole political scenario in Latin America is changing to the radical leftist and it will affect the USA.

Good questions with some good answers. It's nice to see the president is able to stay level-headed even when every Democrat in the nation is agonizing over every little detail. For the rest of you: He's human. Don't let your hatred for him (for easily defeating Kerry) cloud your judgement. Get over it and move on. Work for progress instead of trying to turn everything into something negative.

you know if we did what they did tapping in on peoples lives we would be in jail no matter what the reason behind it and i dont think that he and the people in washington should be above the law that has been in place for a long time.

Now I know for sure. The NSA tapped the phone calls of a lot of MSM or else why would this president be treated with such kid gloves? This post should have been subtitled MEDIA UNPLUGGED....

This won't get posted, seeing as I am a Bush supporter, but I think the exchange shows you who Bush really is. There has never been one person, one President that was perfect, however, not in my lifetime have I see the left go to the extremes they have over the past five years to criticize him at every move. Every move, there is not one thing this man could do. And the crtique is typically, typically emotional, no substance, no facts, just shoot from the hip verbal attacks. But, "W" is still president, no matter how hard it hurts, get used to it.

I cringe when I consider the many liberties that the people of this country have lost under the present administration. I agree with the gentleman who compared the present situation in this country to the declining Roman Empire. I think perhaps the comparison of Bush with some of the Emperors of the time would not be out of place either, both from leadership capabilities as well as attitude.

PEOPLE WAKE UP: This press blitz is not about National Security or a controversial NSA domestic spying program. It is about mis-direction. Bush was handed a surplus on January 20, 2001. The war has been under-funded, under-manned and under-planned. This government is corrupt at the highest levels and inept to a degree and with a ferocity that is tragic. ...Would that we all had a "Barney" to help us forget our troubles with Bush.

I know he tries to seem nice and friendly and maybe he is...but he is also dogmatic and does not think outside of any box I know. He does not understand how anyone would not exercise, he does not understand how anyone might have a problem, he does not understand how Muslims are not Christians. It seems to me he has a very hard time understanding other views and ideas. This is not a man that should be put in charge of multi-faceted thinking in a multi-faceted world.

Insightful man...I am certain that there are things going on that we will never know....or even need to know...in order to protect our interests...which by the way, is the President's primary duty.

I keep trying to impress upon my kids how important it is now at this time in our history, to do a small amount of research on Nixon and his "programs". You can call the "program" anything you want, a rose by any other name is still a rose. My step-daughter told me, "my dad doesn't care about whats going on with politics, it doesn't affect him is his thinking." My response, those are the same people who wake up one day and ask, hey, how come I have no rights?

Thirteen blogs, and all negative toward Pres. Bush. So where are the voices of those that elected him? As a proud American living in Europe, I can say without hesitation that the hard-earned reputation and respect the U.S. worked for decades to achieve is being destroyed in short order by this lightweight with the macho cowboy mentality and swagger. Our great country will need decades to restore its reputation as things stand right now. It is frightening to speculate on how much more damage Bush will inflict on his country before he is out of office and how many more decades he will add to the recovery timeline. It is a monumental tradegy!

Each time i hear this drivvle i am more alarmed at the state of our nation. The innocuous conclusions drawn, we lose 3000 people on 9/11 from an attack by bin laden's group, we retaliate by invading a country and killing 30,000 innocent people who had nothing to do with our loss? where's the sense, the justice, it reminds me of the old joke saying, patience my ass, i'm gonna kill somebody! pick a country, any country,there are more dictators out there cruelly treating their people, committing crimes against humanity through starvation, homelessness, genocide, come to think of it, we may be one of them when it comes to the hunger, homelessness and lack of health care! it appalls me that there is so much apathy to what is going on, illegal wiretapping? isn't that what got nixon impeached? lying to the public? another violation? what's going on people, were any of you around in the 60's when it was on the shoulders of the people to right the wrong direction the country was taking! never mind getting exercise, exercise your right to freedom and democracy and get on the track to fix this mess!

The question that I had before 9/11, during the weeks after 9/11, and still have is a simple one: "When will the leader of our country, regardless of party, regardless of anything, ask himself the simple question of "...why do they hate us, what have we done to these people?" and, then, simply answer the question honestly.

History has proven without a doubt why the people of the Middle East hates us. It's up to our leaders to acknowledge these things, apologize and go from there.

Example: if I slap someone for whatever reason and then, do not acknowledge why I did this and do not apologize for my actions, the person will resent my action and as time goes on the memories of my action will only grow, especially if the person sees me often and I go on in a blinded state of that person's feelings, emotions, etc. We may co-exist but there will not be peace between that person and I until I address the situation and my action, apologize and try to communicate with that person to make amends.

This does not show weakness, this shows compassion, responsibility and the ability to want to do what is correct for all parties concerned.

Mr. Bush was on an incredible platform that was made by many errors, failed policies on both sides, for many years: 9/11. He had the attention of the entire world at that time and, if he had simply responded in a way to address "why this happened",
"what we did to get to this point" and "how we can correct this" he would not only have the attention of the American Public but the Middle East and many of those countries would perhaps worked with us to elimate the threats within their countries instead of the situation we are in now. Hindsight is 20-20 and we have made many errors since 9/11 (and, prior to 9/11 I wrote things about this) but it is never too late to make amends and to simply "DO THE RIGHT THING."

What a shock that every comment here would be critical of Pres. Bush.
I'm NOT a right-winger, but a Libertarian.
Having said that, does anyone ponder why Bush supporters don't read or respond to MSNBC tv or the web? Or are we going to blame their ignorance?
I especially love the "live votes" MSNBC has. The slant of all these responses is disgusting.

The "fact" that the President was "unscripted" in Kansas seems to be newsworthy in itself -- like a senile uncle who's having a good day among family and friends. What a crock. This is all part of Rove's PR (read: propaganda) campaign to boost Bush's flatlined approval ratings. These right-wing radicals (nothing about them is conservative) regard themselves to be above the laws of the land, and the constitution itself. I'll openly applaud the first correspondent from the mainstream media who has enough spine to report on those painfully obvious facts.