Today's video conference between the President and "the troops" shows that the White House has learned a lot from its mistakes. Namely, if you have a question-and-answer session, make sure everyone knows both the questions and the answers before hand. By the set-up of the stage, the conference also suggested that the White House has learned a lot from CNN's "Situation Room." And make no mistake, it was a production, the awkwardness of the event captured by the way the President's podium cheated toward the press cameras with one quarter turn.

Rant continues after the jump.

Bush's actual speech didn't address the soldiers, either. He said he was thanking them, but most of what he had to say was meant for ears on this side of the world: "We're facing an enemy that is ruthless and cold-blooded, an enemy that actually has a philosophy, and the philosophy is so opposite of ours," he said. I am fairly confident our soldiers on the front lines know exactly how ruthless and coldblooded the enemy is.

They could, in fact, probably teach Bush a thing or two about that. And though he was the one asking questions, that isn't what Bush wanted to know. The pool reporter at the event overheard an administration official prepping the soldiers ("Who are we going to give that [question] to?"), and no one did much to hide the interview's lack of spontaneity as it actually took place. Bush dutifully asked questions slanted toward emphasizing progress ("[G]ive us a sense... of what life was like when you first got there, and what it's like today?") and then a captain would direct it to the appropriate soldier, whose rehearsed answers wobbled only when the President got in the way:

And is it possible to give us a sense, kind of a calibration of what life was like when you first got there, and what it's like today?

CAPTAIN KENNEDY: Mr. President, Master Sergeant Lombardo will answer this question.

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Good morning, Mr. President. I'm Master Sergeant Corine Lombardo, with the Headquarters 42nd Infantry Division and Task Force Liberty, from Scotia, New York. First, I'd like to say that this is a pleasure to speak with you again. We had the honor of your visit in New York City on November 11th, in 2001, when you recognized our Rainbow Soldiers for their recovery and rescue efforts at Ground Zero.

THE PRESIDENT: Were you there?

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: We began our fight against terrorism in the wake of 9/11, and we're proud to continue it here in North-Central New York -- North-Central Iraq.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something. Were you there when I came to New York?

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Yes, I was, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: I thought you looked familiar.

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Well, thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I probably look familiar to you, too.

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Yes, you do, Mr. President. I can tell you over the past 10 months we've seen a tremendous increase in the capabilities and the confidences of our Iraqi security force partners...

Two thumbs down.

President Addresses U.S. Troops in Iraq in Video Teleconference [WhiteHouse.gov]
WH Pool Report: Soldiers Knew Questions In Advance [Hotline on Call]

AP - A Democratic senator and potential 2008 presidential candidate said Thursday that White House political adviser Karl Rove must step down if he is linked to the leaking of a CIA operative's name.

AP - As doubts grow about her abortion views, Harriet Miers will face vigorous questioning on privacy rights and her qualifications for the Supreme Court, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday.

National Journal reports that in 2003, Karl Rove personally assured the President that he did not leak the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. Of course, Rove was the source for that leak. Why did he lie? Well, the White House staff keeps a lot of information from the President that might upset him. No one wants to have another Easter Bunny incident like in 2001.

We kid. The President is a smart man and he's known about the Easter Bunny for years. We think the Rove revelation might, however, take him by surprise.

And poor Scotty McClellan. To just find out about both Karl Rove and Easter Bunny now. . .

Rove Assured Bush He Was Not Leaker [NJ]

AP - To regain political power Democrats must abandon favorite election myths, adopt a strong position on national defense and pick candidates who connect with average voters, two political analysts from the party said Thursday.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush is battling to climb out of a slump caused by the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war and soaring gasoline prices, events that have all combined to damage his credibility and deflate Americans' confidence in him.

President George W. Bush sought on Saturday to dispel concerns about the readiness of U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces, declaring himself "encouraged" even though his top generals say the number of battalions that can fight insurgents without help has dropped.

"I'm encouraged by the increasing size and capability of the Iraqi security forces. Today they have more than 100 battalions operating throughout the country, and our commanders report that the Iraqi forces are serving with increasing effectiveness," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Reality:

One of the few measures the Pentagon has offered the public to judge the capabilities of Iraqi security forces has been the number of battalions that can go into combat with insurgents without the help of the U.S. military.

During congressional testimony on Thursday, Gen. George Casey, top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Gen. John Abizaid, top U.S. commander in the Middle East, said the number of such battalions had dropped since July to one from three, out of the roughly 100 Iraqi battalions.

One. One. One. And that's DOWN from three.

And Bush is fucking "encouraged"?... [ from dailykos.com @ Saturday October 1, 2005 19:11 ]

deral auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

So who will do a perp walk for this violation of law? No one. There is no penalty for violation of this law.... [ from dailykos.com @ Saturday October 1, 2005 15:06 ]