The Carpetbagger Report: Bush's Bubble Bursts

Posted 11:13 am | Printer Friendly

For almost five years, Bush aides have been effective and efficient in shielding the president from any and all dissent. The president may be aware of the fact that there are some people who disagree with him, but he doesn’t have to see them and — perish the thought — he certainly doesn’t have to answer any of their questions. Ever.

But someone on Bush’s staff apparently made a tragic error over the weekend and the president started taking questions from some young people who hadn’t been pre-screened for ideology, hadn’t signed a loyalty oath, weren’t prepped by a White House advance team, and had questions that the president didn’t care for.

Unfortunately, this occurred in the Netherlands, so it wasn’t Americans who got to ask their president questions, but it was compelling anyway.

“I have a question … concerning the terrorism,” said the first student to be called on, a young woman. “And you made many laws after 9/11, many — many laws and many measures. And I’m wondering, will there be a time when you drop those laws and when you decrease the measures?”

“Look,” Bush replied, “a free society such as ours, obviously, must balance the government’s most important duty, which is to protect the American people from harm, with the civil liberties of our citizens. And every law we passed that was aimed to protect us in this new era of threats from abroad and the willingness for people to kill without mercy has been scrutinized and, of course, balanced by our Constitution.”

Another student asked Bush about the cost of the Iraq war, which is when the funny part happened: reporters were ushered from the room.

Media were then asked to leave, though the meeting, held in a window-lined room at a glorious chateau near Maastricht, went on for another half-hour.

What happened in that other half-hour? American journalists were barred from listening in and — you guessed it — the White House has not released a transcript of the meeting, despite providing transcripts for every single “townhall meeting” and scripted “conservation” Bush has hosted since becoming president.