Revised Press Conference Questions

Revised -- I've finally had a chance to spend some time with the questions posed in today's presidential press conference, courtesy of the New York Times, which, of course, also has the president's answers. I've trimmed and commented, so it's quite different now.

Mr. President, the insurgents in Iraq are threatening to kill anyone who comes out to vote on Sunday. Do you think they'll succeed in killing or scaring away enough people so that the elections will be rendered seriously flawed or not credible? [Did the reporter really expect an affirmative answer? Does he really believe that the insurgents could really be so effective as to kill that many people.]

Mr. President, let me take you up on that, if I may. Last month in Jordan a gentlemen named Ali Hattar was arrested after delivering a lecture called "Why We Boycott America." He was charged under Section 191 of their penal code for slander of government officials. He stood up for democracy, you might say. And I wonder if here and now you will specifically condemn this abuse of human rights by a key American ally. And if you won't, sir, then what in a practical sense do your fine words mean? [Interesting that the Left is more interested in mild rights violations by allies than they are in mass murders and genocide by leftist regimes in Cuba, North Korea and Zimbabwe.]

Mr. President, in the debate over Dr. Rice's confirmation, Democrats came right out and accused you and the administration of lying in the run up to the war in Iraq. Republicans in some cases conceded that mistakes had been made. Now that the election's over, are you willing to concede that any mistakes were made, and how do you feel about -- [These guys are journalists. They have dictionaries. They can look up the definition of "lying." But they don't.]

Mr. President, I want to try another way to ask you about Iraq. When you made the decision to go to war in Iraq, you clearly had majority support in the country. A string of recent polls have shown a clear majority of the American people now believe it was a mistake to go to war in Iraq. ... What would you say to the American people, including a significant number who supported you at the beginning of the war, who now say this is not what we were led to believe would happen? [This reporter apparently has confused this president with the previous presidnet, who was a poll pol.]

A question on Social Security, if we may, sir. There has been, as you've worked forward to making your ultimate proposal, growing concern among Republicans on Capitol Hill. We had Chairman Thomas last week with some concern about the process and Senator Olympia Snowe on the other side suggesting that she's concerned about an absentee -- guaranteed benefit. Excuse me. Are you prepared today to say that those who opt into a potential private account, a personal account, could in fact have a guaranteed benefit as well? And what do you say to Republicans who are beginning to worry? [Once again, the Left is setting itself up as the fool by underestimating Bush's intelligence. They always think he's going to come up with something dumb, clumsy and insupportable because he's "just a dumb, right-wing Texan," then he straight-arms them into the mud with a well thought out piece of legislation or a sharp and focused strategy. Just wait.]

Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people. How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality? [Finally, a right-biased question!]