I turned the press conference off shortly after Pres Bush indicated that the reason the national debt is up by 58% since he took office is because of all the old geezers and geezerettes on Medicare, a situation that is totally out of his control. He says this is the reason we need to go with his medicare reforms. Someone needs to tell him that the moral highroad is to take care of the needy. He needs to remember that it is entirely possible that his fortunes or that of his family and friends could change i an istant and that he could be an old geezer trying to make it on a fixed income. I see very little compassion for the less fortunate in his budget proposal. Other than that it was same ole, same ole.

Tick...Tick...Tick...Time is running out on this administration & so are alot of the republicans. He sounded like a high school kid defending his reason for not doing his home work, he can't speak without a hand in his back pulling a string. Let freedom ring, let Helen speak at the news conferences..

Just yesterday Bush said that he never said that Iraq attacked us. Today, when Helen Thomas asked what the real reason was that we went to war in Iraq, he said, "the Taliban was protecting the terrorists." He talks out of both sides of his mouth.

It does not surprise me that a Country (America) founded on the bloodshed of innocent (demonized) natives would be in this position so many years later. From Manifest Destiny to Pre-Emptive Democratization, some people just cannot be trusted to exercise self-restraint. I suppose that Western Civilization means to be more savage than Savages, and to be more terrorizing than Terrorists. Bottom line: You will kill for what you want. That is the heart of the Beast. To be killed (innocently) for what you believe in is the Heart of God. To lie, manipulate or withhold the truth is the heart of the Beast. To tell the Truth, even if you must and lose everything, is the Heart of God. In a world where (financial) might makes right (and it always has), blood must consistently be shed. So, buck up! When everyone gets to the point where they are willing to kill for what they want, then we will have peace. Murders don’t need currency, inalienable rights, or permission. Murders masquerading as sheep, however, need a system of exploitation like this fantasy-land of morality. When everyone has a bomb strapped to their body, then the Great Utopia will materialize.

It is disheartening to see that after all of the lies and deceptions and ineptitude and cronyism, the Bush administration is still on the job selling it's illusions. If this were private industry, all of the decision makers in the administration would have been sent packing a long time ago. Where is the accountability?

Feingold's censure resolution is far from being foolish. Instead, it's a breath of fresh air to those of us who are tired of politicians who behave as if reelection is the sole purpose for serving in Congress. As expected, however, Democrats once again probed the air with a moist finger to test the wind direction and strength and then promptly ran for cover. Where was the principled action to match the tough talk used immediately after the NSA surveillance story broke?

Unless Democrats are willing to take a political risk in an effort to rescue our republic from the clutches of this disastrous administration, we are lost. Furthermore,if it appears to voters that the Democrats in Congress intend to govern this nation in the spineless and often rudderless manner that has dominated their minority status behavior, then no weathervane or focus group will help Democrats to take over Congress in the fall. No one is eager to vote for politicians who are more concerned with their own political fortunes than they are with the well-being of the country. Therefore, I, for one, would like to see Democrats take a principled, thoughtful, and courageous stand on issues such as the illegal NSA surveillance - less self-aggrandizing chatter and more action. Win or lose, Democrats would then have something of which to be proud, and, as an artifact, the party might regain the respect of the voters.

Maybe we should start an organization to support principled action that ingnores the sage advice of political pundits. We could call ourselves Feingold's Fools. Anyone else care to join?

Three years of liberal rhetoric and a constant negative barrage by the majority of the media seem to lend credibility to Abe Lincoln's "you can fool some of the people all of the time - - ". The President's message has not changed since 9/11. If he truly had committed all of the acts and lies now attributed to him, of course he should be impeached, but there is not one shred of evidence that any of that is true. It is sad to see what a hateful society we have become and what that hatred causes some people to do, regardless of the consequence.

Seems like many people believe this is Bush's war, I put forward the hypothesis that he has been completely manipulated and influenced by his handlers to serve their own aims. He is merely a puppet, and a sorry one at that.

You have to a die hard Rep to believe a word that comes out of pres Bushs mouth i am a retired korean vet living in Canada because i cant afford to live in the U>S>A> and get health care but he can spend all that money for acountry that dosent even want us there.

If Bush really believes his rhetoric about the virtues of spreading liberty as the latest reason justifying the invasion Iraq, then why doesn't he make the invasion of China next on his list. After all, they have WMDs and they don't like liberty. Hopefully Bush won't read my comments, as they will give him excuses to order an invasion of China so he can dole out bloated and scandalous contracts to Halliburton.

To those who are confused about the "illegal" wiretapping...it is not the wiretapping that is illegal, it is doing so without warrants -i.e. without oversight - warrants that can be obtained after the wiretap has been put in place. No one is objecting to wiretapping suspected terrorists...is that who is being evesdropped upon? As our Secretary of Defense likes to say...Who knows? Maybe it is a senate candidate who is against the war. Who knows? Maybe your tax return will be audited because of a bumper sticker on your car. Who knows? Maybe it is me for writing this comment. Who knows?

we were attacked on 9/11 because clinton did NOTHING to stop what he could of stopped in the 90's. Blame Bush all you want but that's it.

i totally disagree with many of the comments here. President Bush has been attacked on all sides..HATED like no other president has ever been hated. These media people don't have all the facts that the President has and yet they want to crucify him. I was glad to see him lay into them today the way he did. Hat's off to him. He's doing a darned good job with all that has happened to our country. Our economy is growing, unemployment is low, housing starts are still good, with all that has happened and all that still happens this president is doing good. I think many got used to Clinton, a man with NO morals, who was all about..do what ever feels right, and hate Bush because he doesn't relent, he doesn't sink down to lower standards to please a group of people.

In the GB world ,the truth changes daily.
Mr. Feingold is one step too early. Prove the wiretap is illegal in court first, then censure if the court rules illegal.
I do not agree on the premise to start the war but now we are responsible to fix our damage. Beef up the manpower, bring infrastructure back up to prewar times or better. and hurry up about it. 3 years and B$ have been wasted to date.

I am at a loss listenting to the President and Vice President moan that we don't have enough patience. These were the same two guys that promised that the war would be quick and cheap in order to convince us that it was a good idea in the first place. If they had not initially baited the public into supporting them with one story, they would not be reaping the impatience and frustration with the reality of the situation. Diverting attention away from the original promises worked for them until now (which is amazing in itself), but now the approach of blaming all of us for our impatience is getting a little road worn.

If they hadn't declared victory just before the presidential election in 2004 we might actually believe a little more of what they say now.

Whilst we continue to lose the lives of our young men and women in Iraq and spend $6 billion a month to pay for the war, Iran is coming closer and closer to building its own nuclear weapons, China is investing billions in high tech trains and public infrastructure, the United Arab Emirates and other oil producing nations are using oil dollars to build new skyscrapers and other public works, and India is graduating thousands of engineers and scientists.

George W. Bush not only deceived the American people and the world in order to invade Iraq, but he has committed our great country to fighting a war while the rest of the world is investing in future economic growth. In the meantime, our country is sending billions and billions of dollars overseas in order to pay for imported oil, Chinese clothes and electronics, Indian software, and Japanese computers.

The damage that GW has done to this country is enormous. Our international reputation, our financial well-being, and our sense of safety have been horribly pummeled. The result is a world that FEARS, not respects, us, a national debt that will take our children's children a hundred years to overcome, and has turned American on American like no other administration in living memory. We are politically and emotionally at each other's throats because we would rather fight each other than stand up and end the Bush administration madness.

I love how the Bush backers STILL talk about the war as if it was all in regards to 9-11. It has not and will not be proven that Iraq had any ties to 9-11. Also, this MSM crap?? The media has been WAY too lax toward this administration. We are seeing now what this Bush Admin. would have been like if they hadn't been able to wrap themselves in the tragedy of 911 and exploit it. I heard Sean Hannity the other night whining about the Democrats... well? Last time I look, the GOP was in charge of everything, and they are the ones spending us into ruin. I pray for gridlock now.

Response to Walter Shivers - no one is saying that we should stop the wiretaps - we are saying and many republicans are too- follow the law on this subject. There is existing law that dictats how to seek permission for getting wiretaps. Without these restrictions our freedoms can be eroded. Using FISA does not restrict the use of the wiretaps - follow the law. No one is above the law not even the president in time of conflict. Wake up and act like a thinking adult. No one says to stop wiretaping of terrorists (the preident is trying to make that argument in political baiting) most are saying continue the wiretaps but follow the law. Using the president's logic - he could break any law he wished if he consulted with others first and got his attorney (Mr. Gonvalez) to agree. That is not how a country of laws works. The courts interpret the laws not the people involved. Surely not the president when there is a low on the books and he chooses to ignore it.

Christian extremism is JUST as dangerous as Islamic extremism. Separation of church and state is a good thing that we are getting too far away from in this administration. I will NEVER believe that Iraq had anything remotely to do with the attacks of 9/11. Meanwhile, the billions we spend in Iraq could be used for all the things we STILL lack in homeland security some 4 years after the attack on 9/11/2001. Give me a break...PLEASE!

The problem with transcripts is the lack of speech patterns that fills all of Bush's press conferences. When reading the transcript it says: "I wish to express and say ..." when in reality it would be: "I (long pause) I...I wish to to to sa express (pause) and say"

Maybe the prez would sound more intelligent if he were to go online and type his answers.

Well it is good to see that MSNBC has made the analysis of the Bush press conference unbias. Please! That analysis was about as anti-Bush as one can get. What the President did today was not only right, it was long overdue. If anything, Bush needs to be more, not less combative, with a press core that obviously wants to report nothing but death and destruction. For the unintellignet observor to look at the Nightly News, one would think that Iraq was only about death and destruction. Too bad for the reporters like Helen Thomas, that is not the case. I know that there are many who would rather consult with the terrorists than fight them, but luckily John Kerry lost the election. And as far as censure is concerned, where are the democrats? Why did Feingold leave the Senate chamber after he proposed his idea? Because he knew no one would vote for it. Why don't the democrats propose to end the NSA program? Because they know it is working. Sorry Colonel Jacob, but on this one I respectfully disagree.

How come whenever the presidents numbers tank he always goes on a PR offensive ? Do republicans really believe that the only thing wrong is just more speeches and more PR? How about doing something differently? How about sending more troops to fix the water and electricity? How about stop building military bases in Iraq? When is this president and adminstration going to launch a real offensive and maybe catch Osama, instead of these fake PR speeches and fake offensive's (Swarmer).

The problem isn't PR - it's incompetence -

I think it is worth considering some of the broader objectives this administration has undertaken. I believe that the watering hole of oil is in fact drying up. I believe that the neo-cons have illustrated their crusade via the "Axis of Evil" speech and its clear that they are pursuing what they belive to be the largest strategic threats to our country. The problem is their romantic fascination with the by-gone WWII era and it seems as though they missed the point that unilateralism is self-defeatist. We are in a bad place as a result. All altruistic motives are internationally suspect. We have an economy built on an artifically created housing boom and our biggest threats China and Russia couldn't ask for a better gift. Thanks much Mr Bush

What planet is our President living on. I have tried to read as many books as I can to understand our own history here in the U.S. I have found out many things, first of all, the press did help this President create the Iraq War, became disalluisioned, and tried to set the recors straight.
So, now the President is critical of the press for not doing their job, lock step with him
You, as journalists, are the forces we rely upon to give us the facts. Base your anology upon that. Just the facts.
Our best buddy, the former prime minister, says it is a CIVIL WAR. He is there I trust him