Some of you may have seen David Gregory's interview with Bush. Here's part of the transcript:
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MSNBC: Let me ask you about your leadership. In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon's before he resigned the presidency. [BUSH laughs] You're laughing...
BUSH: I'm not laughing.
MSNBC: Why do you think that is?
BUSH: Because we're at war...
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First, I wish Gregory's next question had been: but we were at war in 2002 and 2003 and your approval rating was much higher then...
Second, why the hell was Bush laughing at this??? I'm sure people have noticed how Bush bizarrely and inappropriately laughs when he talks about knee slappers like the carnage in Iraq. I'm glad Gregory asked him about this (by the way, I love how the transcript says "Bush laughs" just before he says "I'm not laughing")...though would have been nice to get a response.
I find it so unsettling and just plain annoying that Bush does this. The fact that he can laugh as he talks about serious issues is just really weird. If it happened once or twice, I might write it off as nervousness. But it seems to be some kind of tic.
I think the laughter has to do with contempt for the questioner. When someone asks Bush "why are so many people dying in Iraq" or "why do so many people think you're a failure", I think what's going through his head is something like "why do I have to talk to this moron?" I think Bush is laughing in the way that Louis XIV might have laughed if a peasant had asked him to explain his views on mercantilism or asked why 17th century France had such a large gap between rich and poor.
what do you think? (and sorry if this issue has been discussed before...it just drives me crazy)