Scripted Bush Event Goes Awry

Update: Crooks & Liars has the video. --Corinne



From Think Progress. Check out the reactions of the two women sitting next to the gentleman with the microphone.

At an event in Charlotte this morning, a Bush PR event on the war on terror went off script when a man named Harry Taylor took the microphone:

" 'I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration,' [Harry] Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Bush on stage. 'And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself.' "

Q You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you'd like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice and decision about whether I can abort a pregnancy on my own behalf. You are -

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not your favorite guy. Go ahead. (Laughter and applause.) Go on, what's your question?

Q Okay, I don't have a question. What I wanted to say to you is that I - in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate, and -

There were boos from the audience but Bush let Taylor continue.

Q And I would hope - I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself. And I also want to say I really appreciate the courtesy of allowing me to speak what I'm saying to you right now. That is part of what this country is about.

Then Bush demonstrated that he heard only what he wanted to hear:

I'm going to start off with what you first said, if you don't mind, you said that I tap your phones - I think that's what you said. You tapped your phone - I tapped your phones. Yes. No, that's right. Yes, no, let me finish.

I'd like to describe that decision I made about protecting this country. You can come to whatever conclusion you want. The conclusion is I'm not going to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program, and I'll tell you why. We were accused in Washington, D.C. of not connecting the dots, that we didn't do everything we could to protect you or others from the attack. And so I called in the people responsible for helping to protect the American people and the homeland....

Now, you and I have a different - of agreement on what is needed to be protected. But you said, would I apologize for that? The answer - answer is, absolutely not. (Applause.)

Complete transcript here. Another head shaking moment brought to you by the Bush Administration.

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