A Host Dials Down, and Bush Speaks Up

A HOST DIALS DOWN, AND BUSH SPEAKS UP
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Alessandra Stanley]
Charlie Rose is a talk show host known for long and rambling questions. President Bush is famous for his short, Texas-terse answers. On last night’s show, the two men reversed roles. President Bush spoke forcefully and at length about Iraq. Mr. Rose was succinct. It was the closest President Bush has come to the kind of winding declamations that Richard M. Nixon delivered to the British interviewer David Frost in 1977 and that are now resurrected on Broadway in “Frost/Nixon,” a play by Peter Morgan. Mr. Morgan, who was one of Mr. Rose’s guests on Monday, told the host that American audiences would see parallels “between presidents facing the wrath of a country that feels that in their name, bad decisions were made.” Actually, President Bush looked more at ease than he usually does in interviews, but he did not offer any revelations about his showdown with Congress over financing for additional troops or his support for his embattled attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales. He mostly expanded on positions he had staked out in the past. It was his wordiness that spoke volumes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/arts/25teevee.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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