Manhattan, N.Y.: Have the White House PR folks lost their touch? The New Orleans speech, to me, looked downright spooky. Like a haunted house in the background.
Dan Froomkin: Ah, and there you have the downside of being image obsessed. Technically, I gather this was quite an accomplishment: Warm tungsten lights on the president, massive candlepower on the backdrop. But the net effect was not only bizarre but inappropriate. Throw in Bush's wooden delivery, his (possibly mis-buttoned) dress shirt, and you've got a rare but massive misstep by the masters of image manipulation. Almost up there with the glorious "Mission Accomplished" banner. But they bounced back from that one, and they may still bounce back from this one.
Perhaps the explanation is that he's been hitting the sauce:
Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster.
His worried wife yelled at him: "Stop, George."
Following the shocking incident, disclosed here for the first time, Laura privately warned her husband against "falling off the wagon" and vowed to travel with him more often so that she can keep an eye on Dubya, the sources add.
"When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot," said one insider. "He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: "Stop George!"
"Laura gave him an ultimatum before, 'It's Jim Beam or me.' She doesn't want to replay that nightmare — especially now when it's such tough going for her husband."
Bush is under the worst pressure of his two terms in office and his popularity is near an all-time low. The handling of the Katrina crisis and troop losses in Iraq have fueled public discontent and pushed Bush back to drink.
A Washington source said: "The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have only just caught him — but the word is his drinking has been going on for a while in the capital. He's been in a pressure cooker for months.
"The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.
The result is he's taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope. "And now with the worst domestic crisis in his administration over Katrina, you pray his drinking doesn't go out of control."
Another source said: "I'm only surprised to hear that he hadn't taken a shot sooner. Before Katrina, he was at his wit's end. I've known him for years. He's been a good ol' Texas boy forever. George had a drinking problem for years that most professionals would say needed therapy. He doesn't believe in it [therapy], he never got it. He drank his way through his youth, through college and well into his thirties. Everyone's drinking around him."
Another source said: "A family member told me they fear George is 'falling apart.' The First Lady has been assigned the job of gatekeeper."
Now, this is from the National Enquirer, which I admit leans towards sensationalism, but the things they print are generally true.
I've always seen President Bush as a dry drunk, because I recognize the alcoholic personality, especially in his inability to admit fault. He never went through the process of fighting his alcoholism, but rather stopped drinking. This is not the same thing.
Now it seems he has fallen off the wagon and turning to booze as a crutch.
May God have mercy on this country, because we're going to need it.
-The Oklahoma Hippy
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