Here's Harold Fineman's quickie take on Bush's speech, just posted on MSNBC:
George W. Bush spoke with all the confidence of a perp in a police lineup. I first interviewed the guy in 1987 and began covering his political rise in 1993, and I have never seen him, in public or private, look less convincing, less sure of himself, less cocky. With his knitted brow and stricken features, he looked, well, scared.
Posting this as a short diary, so apologies for that, but the Open Threads are running amok, it's nearly the witching hour for posting diaries today anyway, so consider this a sort of Open Thread not so much on the content of the speech but on the peculiar delivery.
A bit more below...
I watched the speech on MSNBC, and when the announcers mentioned beforehand that the speech was to be delivered while standing in the Presidential Library rather than seated at the Oval Office desk, it made me a bit wary. With public opinion so clearly opposed to the war and any escalation of it, the only chance Bush would have was to deliver a passionate, personal speech that would connect to viewers on a visceral level, make them feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt, just one more chance. This move to have him deliver in a more relaxed setting and more folksy way seemed calibrated toward that.
Of course, I had little expectaion that Bush was capable of delivering a personal, passionate speech, given his usual delivery. But maybe thay had really prepped him, or doped him up...
And then came that first flash of Bush in the library. He looked absolutely paralyzed and afraid, stiff, monotone, staring, a dry lecture devoid of any attempt to reach out to the viewers. As the speech went on, I felt that no one would even be listening to his words after a few minutes, because he was saying nothing new. He was emotionless, reading words, not making even the slightest effort to convey any sense that he cared about those words. He gave absolutely no reason for anyone to feel a sense of trust.
It was astonishingly bad. John Edwards, in an interview with Larry King shortly after the speech, said much the same thing Bush simply delivered statistics and strategies but failed to make the case in the way he needed to do it: as a leader.
Yes, he looked very frightened, and I truly feel he won no support for his policies tonight. Indeed, I think that more people will feel horror not only at his policies, but at his character as well.