Bush Spends an Hour Saying Nothing

According to a news article on Yahoo, President Bush held a news conference today, where he spent an hour spewing forth political-speak. In other words, he spoke for 60 minutes or more, but really didn't say anything.

The President opened the news conference with a tribute to former first lady Lady Bird Johnson who died yesterday at the age of 94. Bush called her "an extraordinary first lady and a fine Texan" who "brought grace to the White House and beauty to our country."

President Bush next spent time discussing the Iraq War and the most recent assessment regarding the Iraqi government's progress toward political, military and economic reform. When asked about the American public's disenchantment with the war's progress, Bush acknowledged that Lady Bird Johnson was "an extraordinary first lady and a fine Texan" who "brought grace to the White House and beauty to our country."

Also discussed during the news conference was the President's decision to commute the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush explained his position by saying "Look, the guy was named 'Scooter,' isn't that punishment enough?" He then continued by saying that Lady Bird Johnson was "an extraordinary first lady and a fine Texan" who "brought grace to the White House and beauty to our country."

Bush acknowledged for the first time that someone in his administration likely leaked the identity of undercover CIA official Valerie Plame. It was this leak that led to Libby's conviction of lying and obstruction of justice, and when this scandal initially broke, Bush promised to fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed Plame's identity. When asked about the leak, Bush replied "I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, 'I did it.' I mean, would the American people have really expected me to fire my own Vice President... er, I mean the person who did it?" He then said "Did you hear that Lady Bird Johnson died?"