Stacking the Deck, And Rigging Questions: Honesty Burried In The Humor

The President shouldn't dabble in humor and leave that to his speech writers. Unscripted, we see W reveal himself in Cleveland one more time.

Q Well, this may seem like it was rigged, Mr. President, but there are --

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. There have been a few rigged questions in my day. (Laughter.) I'm not telling you which way they were rigged, though. (Laughter.)

Really, the people that attended today's lecture from the W in Ohio deserve an endurance medal. It would have to be a big medal for enduring one seriously long dish of propaganda from a man that would rather have us believe the varnished rather than unvarnished truth. Today's speech was even replete with the usual Nine Elven Monkey Slapping (you think that the speech writers would grow weary of putting that reference into every PR opportunity, but they don't).

Interestingly, it looks like the W, Rove and Co. continue to find choirs to preach in front of. Have a look at the questions and see if you think they were difficult or unfriendly? Not one question about Libby? None about Uncle Karl or Harriet Meyers? Nothing about why there were no WMD found in Iraq or what about OBL? What about the charade that his no tax and spend anyway fiscal policy is leading us to National bankruptcy?

Based on the questions asked by the citizens of Cleveland, you would think that they didn't get enough propaganda delivered at the front end of the speechifying. I've removed the President's responses so you get all the Qs without the A propaganda. If you'd like to have a look at W's responses, click on the above link.

Q Mr. President, like this world-class health care institution, NASA Glenn is one of the crown jewels, along with the talented people there, in our new economy crown. As you know, we recently won the crew exploration vehicle contract. We're very happy about that. Given all the competing demands for resources in Washington, what kind of funding do you see for NASA and its mission going forward?

Q Mr. President, I'm originally from Pakistan.

Q When I travel there, my friends over here say that I'm crazy to go back --

Q And when I'm there, the people over there say I'm crazy to go back. (Laughter.)

Q That's right, that's right. My question for you is, what are we doing with public diplomacy to change the minds and the hearts of a billion and a half Muslims around the world?

Q Mr. President, I know immigration has been a big problem in the U.S., and what is your next step with the immigration bill?

Q Mr. President, I have an organization that has supported the captive nations of the world for 48 years. And our members are sincerely interested in this visa waiver program for friendly countries --

Q -- so people could visit their relatives and friends on a shorter basis, like 30 days, 60 days. Are you in favor of this?

Q Sort of. I'm of Polish decent.

Q Mr. President, first of all, as a fairly conservative talk show host, I'd like you to please tell Congress to leave the fairness doctrine in the ground where it is.

Q Second of all, going back to Iraq, sir, you mentioned Muslim mothers want their children to grow up in peace. The children of extremists, however, are being trained right now. We've seen the videos. We have seen the indoctrination -- schoolchildren being indoctrinated to hate Americans and to hate Jews.

Q The next generations of terrorists are already being bred. Isn't is true that regardless of how long it takes to win in Iraq or Afghanistan, the war on terror will never, ever truly be ended?

Q Mr. President --

Q -- Republican Presidents, going back to the Nixon administration, have strongly favored Indian self-determination.

Q American Indian self-determination and first-nation communities. And it seems like the conservative court, however, has been consistently eroding that self-determination. What has your administration -- what position does your administration take with respect to sovereignty and Native American rights?

Q Sorry about that. Mr. President --

Q -- I'm a pediatrician at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital across the street.

Q Pediatrician, yes, sir.

Q Yes, sir. Returning to a domestic item --

Q It is, sir. Thank you. Good to serve. One of the things that we're passionate about in pediatrics now, both at Rainbow and across the nation, is disaster preparedness and disaster response, specifically the needs of children. Could you comment, Mr. President, on how well-prepared we are as a nation for, God forbid, the next Katrina, or pandemic flu, or some such calamity?

Q Thanks, Mr. President. If you talk to a lot of neighborhood folks here in Cleveland, they'll say that there's a war on terror brewing in our neighborhoods with an increase in crime over the past few months.

Q What are your thoughts on how we can improve opportunity, and decrease crime in urban areas to make Cleveland an international metropolis?

Softballs, each and every one of them. Where were the protesters? Probably bared from attending the speech. More importantly, how many of today's questions were rigged and by whom?