Great, short review of today's press conference by former Wonkette

[Hamlette]

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/08/president_loves.html

This morning's press conference was notable for both the President's volume and a certain schizophrenia -- Bush rarely tries as hard to get a laugh as he did this morning, even, in desperation, making jokes about dancing with Helen Thomas. (ew.) I'm surprised the DNC hasn't already made an ad out of his shocking concession that Democrats who oppose his policies are just as patriotic as he is. And then, just to keep things interesting, he started channeling Lou Reed: "Sometimes I’m frustrated. I’m rarely surprised. Sometimes I’m happy. The war is not a time of joy. These aren’t joyous times. These are challenging times. These are difficult times." I believe the next verse is "I thought of you as my mountaintop/I thought of you was my peak/I thought of you as everything/I had but couldn't keep."

The White House has yet to post a transcript, so I'm going to hold off on further analysis but those interested in WH trivia might be curious to know that the the lighthearted joshing at the end of the conference was in reference to the relocation of the briefing room out of the White House proper. Reporters asked the President when they'd be allowed back; he said he didn't know and Cox's Ken Herman said he believed that decision would be made by "commanders on the ground." I didn't catch who said "there is no timetable for withdrawal."

(Andrew Sullivan is on vacation for two weeks, you really should be reading him always (yes, I know, he used to be an creepy GOPer but so did my dad. It's fascinating to watch the transformation. Anyway, the bloggers he got for while he is on vacation are liberal (mostly) hate Bush, Rummy and Christionists (like Sulley) and mostly damned funny.