Photo Op Bites Back

"THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, I made a decision to put somebody on the Court who hadn't been a part of what they call the judicial monastery. In other words -- I listened, by the way, to people in the Senate who suggested, why don't you get somebody from the outside. And I figured that people are going to kind of question whether or not it made sense to bring somebody from outside the Court.

"I would remind those, one, that Harriet is an extraordinary, accomplished woman who has done a lot. As a matter of fact, she has consistently ranked as one of the top 50 women lawyers in the United States, that she has broken the glass ceiling. She has served as a great example. She is a brilliant person. And that just because she hasn't served on the bench doesn't mean that she can't be a great Supreme Court Justice."

There was also a question about Karl Rove:

"Q Your political guru, Karl Rove, is set to - or scheduled to testify before a grand jury for the fourth time this coming week, it seems, looking into the leak of a CIA agent's name. You've said if someone on your staff had anything to do with that leak, you'll take care of that person. Has Karl Rove looked you in the eye, Mr. President, and said 'I, in no way, bent or broke the rules, or the law, when it comes to this case'?

"THE PRESIDENT: Matt, I've also consistently said I'm not going to talk about the case; it's under review. So I'm not going to talk about it. Thank you for asking, but - on the other hand, the prosecutor has made it clear - and made it clear - that he doesn't want anybody speculating or talking about the case, so I'm not going to talk about it. "

Flashback to Another Testy Interview

It was more than a year ago when plucky Irish TV reporter Carole Coleman mixed it up with a clearly peeved Bush in a one-on-one interview .

"Testy, Testy, Testy," I wrote in my June 25, 2004 column -- with follow-ups on June 28 and July 1 .

Well, in this weekend's Sunday Times, Coleman herself revisits her ten minutes with Bush and writes that at one point she felt like slapping him.

It's an extraordinarily revealing piece, exposing the manipulation and choreography behind a Bush interview.

There was the pre-interview coaching:

One White House official "suggested that I ask the president about the yellow suit the taoiseach had worn the previous week at the G8 Summit on Sea Island in Georgia. I laughed loudly and then stopped to study his face for signs that he was joking -- but he didn't appear to be. 'The president has a good comment on that,' he said."

And the pre-interview bribery: