Bush Unplugged But Unrevealing

A Tiptoe Outside the Bubble

Christopher Lee writes in The Washington Post: "As if to rebut charges that he lives in a White House bubble that leaves him exposed only to handpicked audiences, Bush spent most of an hour-and-40-minute session here chatting with questioners pulled from the seats of the Kansas State University arena. . . .

"A student in the Air Force ROTC asked him to talk about how he handles assaults on his character. A former beef industry official praised his efforts to get beef exports into Japan after mad cow scares in the United States. One person asked him to talk about his wife.

"By the end of the event, White House transcribers recorded 61 instances of audience laughter."

Kelly O'Donnell writes in an NBC blog about the lighter sides of Bush's speech.

A Breaking Ball

David E. Sanger writes in the New York Times: "[A]fter talking about terrorism and wiretapping and Iraq, Iran and China, Mr. Bush called on a questioner who said: 'You're a rancher. A lot of us here in Kansas are ranchers. I was just wanting to get your opinion on 'Brokeback Mountain,' if you've seen it yet.'

"The movie, of course, is the adaptation of a story about two male ranch hands who fall in love with each other in the 1960's. After some nervous laughter settled down, the questioner added: 'You would love it. You should check it out.'

"Mr. Bush paused. 'I haven't seen it,' he said. 'I'd be glad to talk about ranching, but I haven't seen the movie.'

"There was more nervous laughter as the president added: 'I've heard about it.'

"Then Mr. Bush, somewhere between flummoxed and amused, added, 'I hope you go back to the ranch and the farms is what I was about to say.'"

Peter Wallsten explains in the Los Angeles Times: Although the story line is full of Republican touchstones -- small-town Fourth of July celebrations, a father's devotion to his children, even the wide-open landscape of Wyoming, Vice President Dick Cheney's home state -- the depiction of homosexuality makes the film untouchable for a politician."

On Student Loans

Joel Havemann writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush, caught off guard Monday by a question about cuts in higher-education student-loan programs, said the reduction in costs would come at the expense of lending institutions, not students.

"Representatives of higher-education associations disagreed moderately. Leaders of student groups took vehement exception."