Advice to reporters that attend Bush Press Conferences

First, I’d like to welcome smbslt to LJ, who I knew in college. Her VAX name of “Graffiti Limbo” makes me think of her every time that song appears on my iPod.

Her LJ has some great content I haven’t seen elsewhere. She lives in D.C. so her writings have an “inside the beltway” feel.

She pointed readers to Mr. President, will you answer the question? (previously published on Salon) about how Bush is so good at avoiding giving “real” answers to questions, and how they can phrase questions so he can’t escape. After a lot of analysis, he gives some great examples:

• Who was responsible for the faulty intelligence about Iraq’s WMD, and why haven’t they been held accountable?
• What has changed about the administration that would give the public the certainty that if we go to war again, it won’t be based on faulty intelligence?
• When did Bush become aware of the memos written by White House and Justice Department lawyers sanctioning torture and the circumvention of the Geneva Conventions in certain circumstances? And did he support or reject them?
• Does Bush know who leaked Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA operative? Who did it?
• If current workers are allowed to invest some of their Social Security taxes, that amount will have to be made up in some other way, unless the government reduces payments to current or future retirees. So what’s it going to be?
• How can the government reduce the deficit if it won’t increase taxes and it doesn’t reduce spending?
• If the tax code overhaul is to be revenue neutral, and one goal is to reduce the tax rate on savings, what taxes go up?
• If preemptive war against Iraq was justified, what other nations might merit preemptive action?