Come America and wake up. Don't you see what the Republicans are doing? They are doing their best to play on our fears of terrorism and we should be afraid, we should be even more afraid now than we were 5 years ago because Bush's foreign policy and actions have created even more enemies for us. But keeping Bush in the Whitehouse or anyone else with his beliefs isn't going to make it better. I am not saying that we need a Democrat in the Whitehouse, however we do need someone who truly has moral and family values and doesn't just say he does. I know this is hard with politicians in general because they tend to lie and just say what we want. Do your research America and put people in Washington that will have our best interests at heart, not the corporations profits.
Also,if you haven't already, ask yourself, What is the war on Terror? What does it mean? How do we define terror? How do you win a war on Terror? I am still waiting for President Bush to explain what a victory will be because we will never get all of the so called terrorists. There will always be more people that hate us and want to harm us due to his arrogance. Oh and I don't put all the blame on Bush, because he is Cheney's puppet.

I find it a bit disheartening that a number of people posting are attacking you for asking tough questions of someone whose deceptions and lies are so blatant. Being direct and asking pointed questions to a president who has abused and continues to abuse his power from day one is not disrespectful. It's about time that the press begins to expose him for what he truly is. It's ironic (and somewhat comical) that the administration is beginning to throw the word fascist (right-wing, oppressive, bellicose, warlike in manner, pugnacious, and belligerent - sound familiar) around when the Bush administration is probably as close to it as any U.S. President has ever been. The way the victims in New Orleans were treated by an inept government response on all levels is the worst possible definition of disrespect, addressing those that are directly responsible for it is not.

I thought that Brian did a great interview. It is obvious to me that the American people better wise up and elect officials who have some intellectual ability all the way from the president on down. Bush gives the impression of a dumb cowboy whether he is being interviewed or is in meetings with world leaders. Look at his actions at the last G8 meetings like a little kid he snuck up behind the German Chancellor and rubbed her back. Wow, what a man!
It makes be laugh when I hear people blame Clinton for the terrorist attacks. If I recall correctly, President Clinton sent missiles against Osama into the caves in Afghanistan and just missed getting him. This caused an uproar in the Congress, the press, and by the American people. He was greatly criticised for doing that and everyone said he was only doing it to take the heat off his personal problems with Lewinsky. Who was this Osama guy anyway. Just think, if the missiles hit their target, Osama, we wouldn't be talking about a 9/11. Clinton's main fault was a personal problem. He did nothing to damage this country economically, politically, etc. When he left office the deficit was down, the US was the leader of the free world, the economy was strong, etc. Now look at the mess we have. In some ways I hope that the Democrats do not win the presidency in 2008, because they will be blamed for the ineptitudes of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the Falcons! The American people better start paying attention to what is going on with this administration and stop worrying over what Hollywood couple is going to have an illegitimate baby next, or who is going to shack up now. Wake up and smell the garbage the Bush administration has produced.

I watched the interviews with President Bush and also the special that Brian did on his experience with Katrina. As an American, medical professional and human being, the treatment of the residents, patients in the hospitals and any human affected by Katrina is very disturbing to me. The reporters, volunteers, doctors and nurses were witnesses to this horrible atrocity. How can President Bush stand in the middle of the devasted 9th Ward and say everything is going well? He stuttered and stammered through his unscripted interview. And most importantly, how could anyone stand there and smirk when discussing human tragedy. The victims and the witnesses of Katrina deserve more respect than this government has shown them.

Brian-

The President was a gentleman with you, and you were shrewish with him. Shame on you!

Some of these comments are excerpts from other bloggers. I think your posting of comments leaves a great deal to be desired. Who makes the decision regarding which comments get posted and which do not? I am not a reader of blogs but got interested in this and find that many more of them are definitely slanted in Mr. William's favor though he stated otherwise in his comments.
I am ashamed and disappointed in my own fellow Americans, who seek only to criticize and call the President of the United States names or fault our Government. It is our Government and while I do not doubt that some of the angry writers were probably enjoying themselves during the holiday weekend last year, leaving the total responsibility to the Government in providing aid, we all had a choice to use "we the people" in an effort to save the lives of other Americans during the Katrina Crisis. I would like for Mr. Williams to interview the Mayor and Governor and then hear those comments.
I'm really getting tired of hearing how our president is to blame for everything that happened in New Orleans and elsewhere. For goodmss sake! That was the worst natural disaster in our country's history. It wouldn have been any different no matter who the president was. Give it a rest!
We are not cattle to be led, we have the necessary means to communicate effectively and peaceful without insult or blame.
I would like to to say that I am very appreciative of the fact that we have a Christian influence in the White House and that we don't have to be embarrassed about what is happening in the Oval Office. By the way, we live 130 miles north of New Orleans and were without electricity for more than five days and had lots of damage.

To answer some of the comments on this web-site about the interview with president Bush and why everyone is blaming him and not Mayor Nagan or whomever, the answer to that is simple, as previously put by a distant president, "the buck stops at GWB desk". For the people who think that Bush was treated wrong by liberal media, I have one question, have you listened to FoxNews lately?

I do not remember Rush being respectful toward President Clinton. The President needs to answer the tough questions. It's not our fault he can't articulate his own policies. If the President's supporters think he should be spoon fed than he should have settle for baseball commissioner not president of the United States

I have to sit and laugh at all the negative comments about President Bush that are coming from the liberal Democrats. I think the President has been blamed for just about everything you liberals can think of. The Federal Government is a large beaurocracy and to try and put the blame on one man is preposterous. Why aren't you putting any blame on Mayor Nagin and his local government or Gov. Blanco and her state government for the rampant inccompetence displayed before after Katrine? Maybe because they are Democrats? You liberals speak out of both sides of your mouth and you can't have it both ways. Stop you're crying and whining, the Amercian people are sick and tired of it.

Dear Brian,

I don't think your explaination will change the opinion of the majority, however, I will make a remark on the "latter topic". I believe that what really sent a bad message was your body language -- hands on your hips, and the occaisional glance towards the ground. I know at times it was to look at your notes but I did notice that when the President responded in a way wasn't satisfactory you had a tendancy to glance away towards to ground. (I did watch to interview 3 times!)

Don't change! This is your style of journalism. It got you where you are. We need to know as much information as possible especially in today's global community. We don't need "sloppy joe" journalist. We need people like you who is bold, fearless ready to dig up as much information as possible for the people you represent. Knowledge is power. Power to save, power to heal, power to overcome.

A quality interview. I voted for Reagan(84), Bush Sr(88) and GWB(2000) so my politics are not slanted. I did vote for Clinton twice. While Clinton lacked a personal integrity I never questioned his integrity regarding him having this countries best interest at heart and him doing what was best for the greater America. The ignorance, inepteness and lack of integrity of this current administration and its leader really gives me the feeling that this is the beginning of the decline of the greatness that once was our country.

I admire President Bush for agreeing to be "interviewed" by the opposition party.

Will your next liberal candidate for 08 agree to be interviewed by Rush?

I doubt it.

President Bush makes you all sound deranged, which is good for the country so they can see you for the partisans you are, after 40 years of pretense.

LOL, why not just come clean and admit your profession is made up of liberal faux journalists?

Great work, Brian! I liked how you cornered this low IQ subhuman into bumbling out the WRONG reason why we illegally attacked an innocent country! You, however, were too quiet while he babbled on. I would have pursued more questions for him at answer while the globe watches him stutter and chuckle.

Brian,

I'm sorry, but we have a digital video recorder and time-shift your news program. This allows us to press a button and quickly skip over disturbing things that we are not interested in, or can do nothing about. So we jump over all commercials, all news about Iraq, and of course any video you air of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, the president of Iran, Islamic mullahs, etc.

As far as Bush and his cronies are concerned, we consider them a national embarrassment. They and the GOP are ruining this country's economy, our international reputation and - through inaction - Earth's climate. We're afraid the damage they're doing will take many generations to repair.

So, every time you air a video of Bush and his gang, you can be sure we will speed right through it, in order to protect our spirits and to avoid being physically sickened.

There is a growing intolerance in this country. Intolerance of different opinions and attitudes. This scares me more than terrorism itself. We label anyone that does not agree with us a liberal or democrat? IT IS HEALTHY and critical that we have a balance of liberals, conservatives and moderates. When this balance is removed our country will slide toward the fate of an Iran or Saudi Arabia. If we welcome different opinions, we broaden our own horizons. The us versus them, cowboy mentality can only spell disaster for us. We must ask the tough questions and learn from our mistakes.

The American people are seriously apathetic. It was clear that there was illegal activity to get Bush elected the first time. Then 9/11, where there is no way that a plane should have gotten within a 30 mile zone of the pentagon and not be shot down or met with two firefighters as I was told on a trip to DC. Third, the Iraqians were not expecting us to invade, they didn't have any Weapons of Mass distructions. People know that Bush has a lot of oil buddies and they are milking us for every dime they can. How in the world can you get away with over a 75% profit margin and still be able to raise gas prices? If this were Clinton, he would have been impeached for sure. And, yeah, they tried to impeach Clinton on some trumped up issues, and a woman or women that were paid to do and say what they did. I believe the theory that the levies were blown up. This gives the greedy like Cheney (Haliburton) to get more money from the American people. My hope that the God that Bush says he serves will expose the whole situation before America is in ruin.

Rolf -
I live in New Orleans, an area prone to hurricanes. I had a house in Lakeview, and knew that in just the right set of circumstances, the levees could be overtopped, and my neighborhood flooded. What you and so many don't seem to understand is that Katrina (A category 3 storm, not 4/5)did not overtop the levees in my neighborhood. In fact, very little damage was done to my home as a direct result of Katrina. It was the failure of the levees, which were built incorrectly and substandardly by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, a government agency. My house in Lakeview had minimal wind damage, but had six feet of water in it and its raised four feet above the ground.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has admitted fault in the levee breach, so yes I can rightfully blame the government.

The war in Iraq folks is all about oil. Starting with Oklahoma corporation commissioners move to Oklahoma in 1998 documents stating she would be in Louisiana in 1998/1998 working with coast guard on safety issues.Commissioner Bode formerly President of Independant Petroleum Association of America in Washington D.C.( A trade organization representing aMERICAS 8000 OIL & NATURAL GAS PRODUCERS. From there you must read" America at Risk" June 2000. You must also retrieve a paper about'"Texas Alliance" also June 2000 It was formed solely for the protection of the oil and gas industry Its mission statement "sounds exactly like Commissioner Bode talking" "America at Risk" will give you some idea for the war in Iraq, and also on page three, youll see how our energy prices have been raised for past 6 years. When there is a potential for significant disruption? Read and think folks.Oil and gas drilling is mostly royalty free off gulf coast. There is more to the story than this but its a good start if you check dates of documents and can put 2&2 together. Thank You Brian for doing a special story and interview about this. (ITS ALL A "story " about big oil joining little oil for the protection of the oil and gas industry.

The story is NOT about Brian Williams. The real story is about our President. He cannot answer questions or explain policies. If you are getting defensive over his book reading answer, it is because you know, intuitively, that he does not read anything (other than the baseball boxscores). The republicans are always able to deflect the focus onto someone else.

For the position you're in interviewing the president in this tense political climate, I would say the questions were apt. I thought no journalist would ever give the president a better interview than Tim Russert on 2004's Meet the Press, and unfortunately for you that is still #1. Yours was good though. I'm glad you didn't suck up to him the whole time, and you didn't just ask rhetorical questions to make him look stupid either. As a journalist you tried to get information out of him and I find whenever Bush stutters a lot is usually as honest as we're going to get. Of course no one is really going to ask him the questions I have in mind (maybe Jon Stewart), but it was a good interview for what it was.

Why continue to argue with the President's defenders over anything. He needs to answer the hard questions even if he is the President. The truth is the truth whether they want to believe it or not. Actions, consequences, and results speak louder than words, speeches, or any of the spinmasters. Just because you say it over and over and over again doesn't make it so.

FACT:
The largest surplus in history turned into the biggest deficit in history in a few short years.

FACT:
The terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large.

FACT:
Iraq was a mistake. Admit it. It had nothing or little to do with terrorism. Fix it and bring our men and women home. It's a waste of money and innocent lives.

FACT:
While we were/are rebuilding Iraqi schools, homes, roads, businesses, infrastructure etc. we could not get food and water to tax paying Americans down the street. Many of those same people are now living in toxic trailors with the same master key and the insurance they paid for for years won't pay to rebuild their homes.

FACT:
FEMA is part of the Federal Government and it is/was the responsibility of FEMA to help the people of Louisiana and Mississippi by providing food, shelter, and water during and immediately after the Katrina crisis. The director of FEMA was at fault, therefore the director of Homeland Security was at fault, and ultimately George W. was at fault.

FACT:
We are no safer now than we were 5 years ago. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. Any terrorist can walk across the border. More than likely they already live, work, and or go to school here anywhere. Believe it or not terrorists aren't stupid. From what I gather most are well educated.

FACT:
Everyone who disagrees with the President and his policies is NOT UNpatriotic. Quite the contrary.

FACT:
I would rather support a leader who realizes that he has made a mistake, admits it, and changes the plan than follow an idiot to destruction just because he is a man of his word and he sticks to his guns.

FACT:
Easedropping on U. S. citizen's phone conversations without a warrant is illegal even if you are claiming that you are using it to catch the terrorists.

FACT:
Gas prices have skyrocketed out of control while a known friend to BIG OIL is in the White House. Coincidence... I think not.

FACT:
The image of America, our government, and the Presidency has been significantly tarnished by our policies and actions under the "leadership" of George Bush. Our stature has fallen in the eyes of many former allies.

Just because you say it over and over again doesn't make it so. Don't waste your breadth arguing with the supporters of George Bush. They can duck their heads in the sand or close their eyes to it but the TRUTH is still there. I applaud them for sticking to there guns. Its the blind leading the blind.

Dear Mr. Williams,

Put simply, President Bush was given time to answer each and every question you asked. I am sure the Secret Service made sure you did not coerce the President. Therefore, if one wants to evaluated the President, forget the "way" the questions were asked, (whater that means?) and just listed to what the President said in response. Even the President has been brainwashed into thinking IRAQ is linked to 9/11. When you pointed this out, he seemed confused. Just as the neo-cons continue to blame Iraq for 9/11, they will also continue to blame the media, including you, for all of their mistakes.

Cheap Shot…and traditionally not your style!

You obviously have a political burr in your saddle, which now earns you the privilege of having lost my respect and viewer vote of confidence.

Brain, I've deeply admired you throughout your career. I guess this is what happens when a "humble" guy from New Jersey eventually succumbs to the influences of money and politics. Please tell me that NBC hired a new Marketing Wizard who convinced you to deviate from your tried and proven reporting repertoire.

Now I’m just “spit-balling it here”, but just keep on licking that hand that feeds you and eventually real folks here will lose interest in you and NBC will drop you like a hot rock. Again, until yesterday, you’ve always been consistently creative, very talented, fair and objective with your reporting.

I’m 60 years old and of all the bipartisan lessons I’ve learned in life, I’ve never lost my respect for the Office of the President, regardless of who’s in Office.

For future reference, profoundly think about the abovementioned if you ever want to earn back my respect and the pleasure of my company.

As far as I'm concerned, any inverview that exposes a person's true character is a good interview. Maybe you whouldn't push Dr. Ruth with the tough questions, but then, Dr. Ruth isn't the "leader of the free world". She'd answer them anyway, though.

I don't know if there was a lack of respect for the President, or simply a breach in protocol. A seasoned reporter should know better, either way, though when it came down to it, the proof was in the pudding, and the pudding was, shall we say, Not At All Tasty. I don't think the President was prepared for an interview that abrasive, and I think it showed.

I don’t dislike Bush because he appropriates the name “conservative” to mean “Morally Upstanding If Your Morals Are Like My Morals”. I view that as a lack of perspective on his part; which I view as more of a handicap than anything. I dislike him because he’s an untrustworthy, doubletalking, hypocritical, sermonizing, simonizing, nepotistic, in-over-his-head patsy for the REAL pieces of work (like Don and Dick). The most frightening part about George Bush is that he THINKS he’s doing the right, and he lacks the ability to discriminate between the end justifying the means and the intent justifying the end. I have supported and will continue to support some of his ideas and policy, I give him credit for that which I agree with, but that in no way justifies a claim that the man deserves the same sacred and inherent respect the lies instead with his office. He. Does. Not.

The war in Iraq folks is all about oil. Starting with Oklahoma corporation commissioners move to Oklahoma in 1998 documents stating she would be in Louisiana in 1998/1998 working with coast guard on safety issues.Commissioner Bode formerly President of Independant Petroleum Association of America in Washington D.C.( A trade organization representing aMERICAS 8000 OIL & NATURAL GAS PRODUCERS. From there you must read" America at Risk" June 2000. You must also retrieve a paper about'"Texas Alliance" also June 2000 It was formed solely for the protection of the oil and gas industry Its mission statement "sounds exactly like Commissioner Bode talking" "America at Risk" will give you some idea for the war in Iraq, and also on page three, youll see how our energy prices have been raised for past 6 years. When there is a potential for significant disruption? Read and think folks.