Read this interview with Bush. He doesn’t come across that well. I guess that’s what happens when you have to speak off the cuff. Some excerpts:
President Bush: I’m a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind. Again, I wish it wasn’t true, but it is true. And the American people need to know they got a president who sees the world the way it is. And I see dangers that exist, and it’s important for us to deal with them.
Every president except Jimmy Carter has been involved in a war of some sort. That makes all but one president a war president.
President Bush: Now, I know I’m getting repetitive, but I’m just trying to make sure you understand the context in which I was making decisions.
Repeating yourself?
Russert: [about Kerry] Did you know him at Yale?
President Bush: No.
Russert: How do you respond to that?
President Bush: Politics. I mean, this is—you know, if you close your eyes and listen carefully to what you just said, it sounds like the year 2000 all over again.
Russert: You were both in Skull and Bones, the secret society.
President Bush: It’s so secret we can’t talk about it.
Ahhhh yes, the secret society that’s so secret that no one can talk about it. And the “If you close your eyes and listen carefully to what you just said.”
Update: An article about the speech that’s worth reading as well.