Aww... Questions Too Tough for You, Georgie?

Some of the more conspiratorial commentators are opining that the early handover of “sovereignty” was a deliberate tactic designed to push more truly newsworthy stories like the record-breaking success of Fahrenheit 9/11, the lackluster European summit, and the embarrassing Irish interview “below the fold,” in newspaper-speak. And while that does have some validity in the on-line world, I suspect that we on the ’net tend to think we’re far more representative of the population as a whole than we truly are. In the real world, newspaper accounts of the handover didn’t happen until today, making the timing a bit off from a pure strategy standpoint. But more importantly, I don’t for a moment think that Duh-bya is that smart — smart enough to switch the date to avoid any incidents, okay, but not smart enough to turn it into a real PR strategy. (I know that little George doesn’t actually make any real decisions, but his handlers have proven themselves equally moronic, if only due to their delusional single-mindedness.)

Speaking of that interview, I finally got around to reading the transcript (and watching the video). Conducted by Irish public television station Radio Telefís Éireann, it was supposedly so awful that the Bush regime canceled Laura Bush’s scheduled interview — and all I have to say is why the hell is this so controversial? Okay, so it’s a little awkward, not as polished as some... but every journalist should be doing this. An interview — print or televised — is not an opportunity for a self-serving speech, and it’s way past time that little George’s puppetmasters started realizing this. Holy crap, it seemed like Duh-bya was trying to use every opportunity to go off on wild tangents that made him look good instead of even remotely answering the questions asked.

An admonition to reporters everywhere: Don’t just kiss his ass because he managed to get himself appointed president. When he’s evasive, call him on it. When he makes wild distortions of fact, point it out — no, most of Europe did not support your decision to invade Iraq, not by a long shot. When he doesn’t answer your question, ask again. When he makes backhanded comments implying that his religion makes him better than you, don’t just sit back and accept it without challenge. When he starts going off into his prepared answers — and for questions that weren’t even asked — damn right you cut him off. Um, yeah, it’s great that you’ve done all this work to stop the spread of AIDS, but what on earth does that have to do with your asinine Iraq policies?

Carole Coleman — who, if anything, was too easy on him — is my new hero. But the saddest part is that I wish she didn’t have to be.