Lauer Doesn't Nail It

With hammers pounding and saws buzzing in the background, Matt Lauer interviewed President and Mrs. Bush at a Habitat for Humanity building project in Covington, Louisiana. They stood for the nearly fifteen minute "EXCLUSIVE" Today segment.

I found the interview terribly amusing.

Watch it here.

A number of times, the President and Mrs. Bush struggled not to laugh at Lauer's goofy questions.

(Excerpt)

LAUER: I talked to a prominent Democrat in Louisiana who said that this type of an appearance, while it's great to see you guys rolling up your sleeves and grabbing a hammer and helping them with this piece of wall here, that it's a photo op, and they want to see a plan on paper. Do you have that kind of a plan?

BUSH: I don't think Washington ought to dictate to New Orleans how to rebuild. We have a different philosophy than whoever the prominent Democrat was you spoke to. Laura and I had dinner with Mayor Nagin and a group of distinguished New Orleans citizens from all walks of life, and my message to them was we will support the plan that you develop.

How lame!!!

Lauer thinks that Bush should have a plan ON PAPER to rebuild the Gulf region devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

In other words, the federal government is supposed to usurp the power of the state and reconstruct as it sees fit.

I could understand that type of question coming from a kid educated in our public school system, with no clue about the role of state governments and their relationship to the federal government; but Lauer should know better.

Even worse is Lauer's accusation that the President's assistance on a Habitat for Humanity project was some sort of slimy, insincere photo-op.

Good Lord! Of course, Bush isn't going to personally rebuild the Gulf Coast.

I think lib Lauer is confusing the importance of the President and First Lady's symbolic gesture with exploitation.

For Lauer to smuggly suggest that the President's visit to the region was no more than a staged photo-op, presumably for his personal gain, is so ridiculous that it's funny.

Apparently, lib Lauer felt threatened, worried that some Americans might think that the President helping to build a home was commendable. Consequently, lib Lauer had to make sure that the masses understood that Bush is not a good, caring guy. He's a sleazy political opportunist, in Lauer's lib universe.


Photo-op? What photo-op?

When Lauer tried to ratchet things up even more by asking Bush about something Dem Rep.Carolyn Maloney from New York said, the President couldn't help but laugh at him.

BUSH: You're quoting a lot of Democrats today, Matt. That's interesting.

LAUER: She said that we aren't asking the people of Iraq to pay back the money we're spending there. Why are we asking the people of the Gulf coast, requiring them to pay back this money. How would you respond to that?

BUSH: Well, the people of Iraq are paying a heavy price for terrorism. A lot of people are dying, Matt. These people are working hard to establish a democracy, and they're paying a serious price. And -- look, I understand there are a lot of politics. One of the things that I suggested was we keep the politics out of New Orleans and Mississippi as we all work together to rebuild these communities. And we got people here who volunteered their time from all over the country and they didn't say, "I'm a Democrat and I'm going to work here. I'm a Republican I'm going to come and work here." They said, "I'm an American that wants to contribute."

Watching the interview, I was thinking that Bush was incredibly gracious to bother to answer Lauer's inane questions.

Overall, Bush showed Lauer more respect than Lauer gave to the President of the United States.

Lauer was the consummate partisan hack, so much so that I wonder if the executives at NBC are considering having him join forces with David Gregory at the White House.

The combative and arrogant style that Lauer displayed certainly didn't make Bush look bad. He was very composed and very comfortable. Laura was as beautiful as ever.

It was clear to me that Lauer wanted to make some headlines with a hard-hitting interview. In the end, he failed. The only successful hard hits were hammers on nails.



Notice the guy with the yellow t-shirt. It has a Today logo on it. Lauer should get to the bottom of that story.

It looks like a shameless, crass photo-op to me.