ding dang

Curse you, earlier commenter, for mentioning the Beach Boys Love You. Now I have "honkin' down the highway" stuck in my head for all eternity and I had just succeeded in getting it out of my head after it echoed in there all last weekend. Especially the line "I guess I have a wwwaaayyy wwwith girrrrrrrllllllsssss".

The supposedly "liberal" Sac Bee had a decidedly different take on G.W.'s fake impromptu video conference call with the troops than the NY Times did. The Times performed a pretty thorough ball-busting, calling it "scripted" (in the headline), "awkward", "stage-managed", and "carefully scripted". Yesterday they had a story where they called the presentation "less than smooth", and said Bush appeared "slightly uncomfortable" and noted that the troops sat "rigidly" with "fixed expressions". If you just read the Bee you would think that the presentation had gone great, except for some spoilsport Dems calling it a "photo-op". There was no mention that it was pre-scripted, which seems to be a fact. The most infuriating part was how Bush kept cracking jokes which is COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE when you consider that he is talking to young men and women who are so far from home and in so much danger. They probably aren't in much of a joking mood lately, but the prez wouldn't be able to understand that. Also from the Times:

Mr. Bush himself drew a final laugh when, again thanking the troops, he offered an invitation. "When you get back to the States, you know, if I'm hanging around," he said, "come by and say hello".

He should have added the final punch line, "if you don't die first!" That really would have got them rolling in the aisles.