A very fine interview, especially since the subject is an idiot. George Bush is a graduate of Yale and Harvard. Who bribed whom to get him through those schools? Obviously the crooked Bush family - a history of cronyism and nepotism - its their bible.
Where are all the morons who voted for Bush these days? No one will admit they voted for someone as academically flawed as Bush, jr. Print this - the truth hurts.

Brian,
Thanks for asking the tough questions. It is not the job of journalists to "respect" any president of whatever party. Journalists need to ask tough questions and presidents need to answer their bosses, the American voters. You conducted your interview in a polite manner. I think you could have asked more follow-up questions to keep the president on the hot seat. Asking him why people had to die in their wheelchairs while his administrations stumbled around, why thousands of FEMA trailers rotted while taxpayers paid hotel bills for Katrina refugees, why constant blunders have not cost Rumsfeld his job... and I could go on and on. So many questions you journalists don't seem to want to ask too much. Bush has a lot of incompetence to answer for.

Brian, the letter I wroteto you was removed by Adelphia Cable as it does every time I mention anything that is not politically to the right of George Bush . It was a good letter. You would have appreciated it . So I just want to say to you that you are doing wonderful job . Keep on doing what you are doing . We need you . You are our voice. If you get fired, run for president.

YMM, New York, NY (Sent Aug 31, 2006 4:51:22 PM)

I read your response and reference to my own. I appreciate your viewpoint, but just to clarify and not criticize you the Declaration of Independence was the prelude to the Constitution. We are not in need of Independence just world peace.

I am glad that you reference it because it was written when the colonists wanted their own independence. But the Constitution is what this country is founded upon. I was being honest in my own beliefs about respect, not trying to be over handedly. In this country we have respect for diversity, religious values, family values, corporate values, etc.., yet not much in the ways of Patriotic values. We tend only to invoke those values when we are faced with great crisis. Why?

I know of war, I am a Veteran and I have experienced Combat. It is not a pleasant thing to be a part of or suffer through and it never fully leaves your thoughts or life in the years that follow it. But it breeds alternatives to war and violence and fosters and encourages peaceful communications where we can we truly effect change.

But if a nation is attacked, we are left with little choice but in defending ourselves and others.

As a Veteran of Military Service, I once swore this oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; And that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help me God."

We didn’t go looking for the fight but it came to us.

Thank you for sharing your own thoughts on the matter.

Repackaging and selling the war on terrorism --

If President Bush is not treating us this time as if we we’re stupid, once again, and now we really are indeed in the middle of WW III, then -

1. Why didn’t he treat the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as though it was really WW III and consider the possibilities of a military draft to further support our troops over there instead of accusing Democrats of not supporting our troops?

2. Where are the war bonds?

3. How come we didn't send enough troops to fight
WW III in Iraq in the first place?

4. Why is it that we have lost the respect and
support of the world for fighting, Nazis in
WW III?

5. Why did President Bush have to treat us as if we
we’re too stupid to understand his view of
the “big picture” by, instead, lying to the
American people with WMDs in order to convince us
that it was ok to spread our troops too thinly
around the world?

6. If President Bush is so certain that we are in WW
III; that it‘s a war we can and must win with
just a few troops,"superior” knowledge of
military strategic warfare, then how did we
allow ourselves get suckered into a regional holy
war by a two-bit fanatic like Bin Laden when we
could have concentrated all our Middle-Eastern
troops on just Laden, and have declared we won
WW III by now?

Hello Brian,

I just finished watching your nightly broadcast and was shocked to hear that some viewers felt your interview with the President was disrespectful. You don’t need viewers like that. They are so infatuated with this presidency; they can’t even handle anyone questioning their leader. You can see why they feel the need to be on the defensive, because what else is working for them.

It is a sad sad day when Americans are scrutinized for questioning their leaders. Asks those hardball questions, insist that they are answered. This is how our goverment will work for us.

I thought it was the kind of interview which has long been needed, allowing the President to speak as if he were in your living room, rather than the usual staged speeches in front of pre-filtered audiences. Only Brian Williams has the personality to put the President so at ease, and the guts to ask the blunt questions so many people wanted asked of the man who is doing so much damage to this country.

The fact that numerous people thought that this was discourteous is discouraging. This country was founded by real patriots who questioned those in authority, who did not blindly accept the edicts from a self-anointed "decider," be he king or president.

Hi Brian -

Glad you let Bush have it even in a nice way. He is a joke of a President. We could do a lot better without the War in Iraq. A lot of worthy things could be funded, and we could rebuild New Orleans and help the 1 in 8 Americans below the proverty level and still fight the war on Terror. We don't need Bush to tell us about that. How would he even know how the other half lives? He has had everything in his life handed to him including avoiding going to do battle himself in Vietnam.

Maybe it is too early, but I wrote a few words and it did not get posted. I would like to know why? I did not curse as I noticed with some comments. And I thought I stayed with the subject. Can someone answer my concern? Thank you.

Brian,
Forget all this talk about respectful, disrespectful, body language, etc.
Respect is something you earn and this president has not earned the respect of the American public, or any other nation for that matter. Yes, he has his blind sheep following him, and they will continue to follow him right off a cliff. The fact is now; the majority of people in this country do not respect the president. Why, because the president has not earned it.

Brian and team, you are a shining star of hope in this time of woe. Keep up the great work!

I lived under the dictatorship of Shah in Iran for 26 years, came to America for what I heard and read about the freedom and the way government was operating.(the power of check and balance).Unfortunately in the past six years what I have seen form this administration is nothing but another Shah ruling America. What happened to Judicial and legislative power?

I lived under the dictatorship of Shah in Iran for 26 years, came to America for what I heard and read about the freedom and the way government was operating.(the power of check and balance).Unfortunately in the past six years what I have seen form this administration is nothing but another Shah ruling America. What happened to Judicial and legislative power?

Thank you so much Brian....

For having the one-on-one interview everyone else in your profession is afraid of. I know the President was not mad. I know that your interview gave him a chance to say what he had to say....why....you gave Mr. Bush all the time in the World to answer.

Respectfully, Brian, you were not afraid to ask the hard questions.....and I think you did it in such a way that I hope the other SO-CALLED news journalists see how it used to be and how it is supposed to be.

Dear Mr. Williams:
Why is it that everyone with access to a microphone and a TV camera is so eager to blame BIG Government for the New Orleans catastrophy but totally refuses to include LITTLE Government? The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana had the same information, was so much closer to the situation and certainly should have known of the danger potential in their own back yard. They were the ones responsible for the first alert to get the evacuation started. Why didn't they? Was it because some force might have been required or was it total incompetence?

But it seems that the mayor really did understand his people. They reelected him. That still doesn't answer the question of why the media remains totally hands off Little Government.

Fairness and balance, Mr. Williams, fairness and balance.

I was reading through most of this, and I wasn't going to post until I read a diatribe by 'An American.' Trying to politifully though quite overhandedly denounce any discrept shown to a sitting President. I want to just point out something, that was stated in the Declaration of Independence:

"...That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

Our government is in place to serve us, the PEOPLE of this nation. It has been a wonderful rhetorical tool, thanks to Kennedy, to submit an idea that we the people must serve the government, make the outreach, and effort, and do what in reality is the responsibility of this government to perform. Because it is the people who make up the limbs of the Government, fullfilling the requests of those in power, selected by the people to best determine how to use the most powerful resource at its disposal - the very same people who elected them into office.
Therefore, it is OUR RIGHT AND DUTY to question those actions taken by those in power to ensure they use this resource properly, effectively, and MINIMALLY. The lives of our fathers, mothers, children, and loved ones are at risk, when they are sent off to war, when they are faced with tragedy and receive no immediate aid. To not question, to not doubt, to not remind these individuals who are so very far from the front-lines, the cost, the true HUMAN cost, is to forget the very reasons this nation was founded.

We all may have a personal opinion about the current Adminstration and President. But to so blendly accept all that is stated by these individuals in power, is a failure in our responsibility as Americans to hold individuals in authority accountable for their decision. Again, we, as the People, are the ones who inevitable pay the highest price. There is a reason we describe positions in politics as 'civil servants.' They are here to serve the needs and will of the people. An election won is not a divine mandate.
For those who attack individuals who question the actions of our President - shame on you. Becuase it is a fundamental right and obligation for all to question these individuals. Let me remind you, you certainly enjoyed that freedom when you bitterly complained and groused about past adminstrations. In the end, whatever feelings I have for many of the negative aspects of this country - I can still say...I am proud to be an American - who can question, and complain, doubt, and argue, because it is my right to do so.

I never thought I would see the day when a well- respected journalist would have to explain why he is asking any President tough questions. But, sadly, we still live in a time when our new organizations, owned by large corporations, listen to pompass talking heads (on both sides)like Rush Limbaugh. I hope the networks take notice that Fox News ratings have dropped significantly. It seems Americans need our journalists to ask tough questions and not have to explain why they are doing it.

I am always amused to read comments on the internet that coincide with my opinions and yes,I happened to catch a glimpse of brian williams' interview and I thought he was trying to be tim russert.Notice that throughout the interview president bush walked slightly ahead.then all of a sudden it seemed like brian was saying:slow down.listen to me.don't give me bullshit answers.If anything it was president bush not showing ant respect to brian williams

So how long should Nagin and Blanco be allowed to stay in office for their deriliction of duty to the people of New Orleans and Louisiana.

Listening to Bush answer the questions you realize he is not only inarticulate but he really doesn't say anything. He's an embarrassment. I think everyone, republicans included, are going to breathe a big sigh of relief when his term is over.

When will these guys respect that the majory of our great Nations' thinking? We dont like the policies of Mr Bush. When President says " I listen to Our People" and not to what he hears at on His own time
I am a republican leaning person that thinks Our party was Hijacked .

The true fascists are those who blindly follow Bush and denounce anyone who questions his policies. Seriously, look up the word “fascism” and you will see that it fits this administration perfectly. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the propaganda and tactics used by past fascist regimes will recognize the same tactics being used by this administration.

Mr. Williams,
Well done! Thanks for representing the people of this country in asking questions we all want answered. I am stunned that anyone found your demeanor or tone disrespectful. Thanks again.

Brian, you did a great job. Please don't let Rush's comments bother you. Rememeber, it's the drugs talking, if Rush were clean and sober he surely wouldn't behave like that.

Sadly, I will admit to having voted for Bush because I THOUGHT he was the lessor of the two evils - I was wrong. I believe George W. Bush is the worst President this country has seen in my life-time. That says a lot considering how pitiful Bill Clinton was. Is it too much for Bush to answer a few hard questions? I don't think so. As a matter of fact, maybe he should be held accountable for the quality of his work performance. Consider this . . . how long do you think you would keep YOUR job if you performed at the level that he has in his?

Brian you did what needed to be done and you did it with professionalism. That is a lot more than I can say for the quality and professionalism of the answers you recieved. I hate smug smirks!