Bush Gets Outraged

Other Issues

Bush was asked about the "Jena 6" -- the six black teenagers in Louisiana charged in the beating of a white classmate. Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of Jena today in a show of support.

"The events in Louisiana are -- have saddened me, and I understand the emotions," Bush said. "And all of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."

When asked why he hadn't spoken out on the topic before, he snapped: "I just spoke out on it."

Bush said he was optimistic about the economy. That's not exactly news, though.

And he refused to say anything at all about the recent hush-hush Israeli bombing raid in Syrian territory.

Asked about whether he was changing the goalposts for success in Iraq, Bush replied: "No, the goals are the same. Achieving those goals have been slower than we thought. And the question is, one, whether or not it's worth it to try to achieve the goals."

That's a far cry from what Bush said in January, when he announced a series of benchmarks, said that the Iraqi government would be held to account for them, and warned that the American commitment was "not open-ended."

Why the Short Notice?

Almost all of Bush's public events are made known to the press well ahead of time -- with one notable exception. The president's press conferences are routinely announced on very short notice. Today's announcement, typically, went out at 8:45 a.m. -- giving the press corps, not all of whom are exactly early risers, one hour to call in and less than two hours in total to prepare.

Why? What possible end is served in jerking the press corps around like this? Does the White House hope to put reporters at a disadvantage? Does hope the questions will be less incisive? It makes no sense unless it sees some advantage in this for itself somewhere.

Bush's Conservative Roundtable

Not enough sycophants and enablers in the West Wing? Bush called in reinforcements yesterday, inviting a slew of conservative columnists to the Roosevelt Room for a 90-minute group grope in which he tried out a lot of the sound bytes he ended up using at today's press conference.

(Readers of my Monday column about Bush's similar meeting with supportive bloggers will also find much of what he said today familiar.)

Among the participants yesterday afternoon: Michael Barone (U.S. News), Tony Blankley (Washington Times), David Brooks (New York Times), Ron Kessler (NewsMax), Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Larry Kudlow (CNBC), Morton Kondracke (Roll Call), Kimberly Strassel (Wall Street Journal), Kathryn Lopez and Kate O'Beirne (National Review).