Truespeak

If you watched Real Time With Bill Maher this past weekend, you heard them make reference to this point. Past presidents have often lamented about the lonliness of the job, but President Bush and his handlers are embracing it. The President and the Vice President actually seem to revel in the fact that their handlers are insulating them from any and all dissent. For starters, you may remember the loyalty oath rally attendees were forced to sign.

The latest example of this is the Presidents newest campaign feature: the "Ask President Bush" question and answer sessions taking place on the campaign trail. First of all, these are Bush supporters who are not likely to press him to answer difficult questions. Second of all, some of them aren't even asking real questions.

"I'm 60 years old and I've voted Republican from the very first time I could vote. And I also want to say this is the very first time that I have felt that God was in the White House.''

"Can I introduce my mother and mother-in-law, who are new citizens to this country?''

"Mr. President, as a child, how can I help you get votes?''

Are you kidding me? They ask tougher questions when you're ordering at Burger King. This is like a reporter asking "Mr. President,... what should America do, collectively, as you instructed before 9/11? Should it be "pray?"

But he likes it this way. Look what happens when he gets a tough question:

Q Good morning. My name is Mark Trahant. I'm the editorial page editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a member of the Native American Journalist Association. (Applause.) Most school kids learn about the government in the context of city, county, state and federal. And, of course, tribal governments are not part of that at all. Mr. President, you've been a governor and a President, so you have a unique experience, looking at it from two directions. What do you think tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and how do we resolve conflicts between tribes and the federal and the state governments?

THE PRESIDENT: Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities.

Huh? (Just for the record, sovereignty means supremacy of authority.)

Now we've all heard about people being ejected from Bush events for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts, and most of us know about protesters being kept blocks away from Bush events so the cameras don't accidently pick them up; but now we have the F.B.I. investigating posiible protesters at the Republican Convention in late August. And to make sure that the vote goes as well as possible, the president's brother is sending out the state police to help supress the democratic black vote in Florida.

When is this guy going to have to face something hard and make it on his own? He's been living in a bubble of protection and privilege for his entire political career. You see, his handlers know that he's unable to think on his feet. They know that once he gets off the script, anything can happen. So they keep it as controlled as possible. No tough questions, no dissent, no thinking allowed.

John Kerry has to take advantage of this. During the debates, Kerry has to make sure that he takes the fight to him. Put him on the defense early and keep him there. Make George Bush answer questions and when he doesn't, say so. Don't let him skate by. If Kerry puts him in a position where he has to think on his feet, Kerry will win hands down.