Who the hell's Bianca?
This interesting little story comes via Salon's War Room's Tim Grieve:
At the beginning of a press briefing at the Pentagon today, George W. Bush took a few relatively tough questions about Hurricane Rita, the administration's failure to capture Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, what he's going to cut to pay for Hurricane Katrina and why it's taking so long to secure Iraq's border with Syria. Just as it seemed that the president needed the breather that a friendly, Jeff Gannon-style query might provide, Bush called for a question from someone named Bianca.
There was silence.
"Nobody named Bianca?" Bush asked. "Well, sorry Bianca's not here. I'll be glad to answer her question."
When another reporter -- someone who wasn't Bianca -- offered to ask a question in her stead, Bush said he was "just trying to spread the joy around of asking a question." A minute or two after that, a female reporter tried to put a question to the president.
"Are you Bianca?" Bush asked.
"No I'm not," she said, "Anita -- from Fox News."
"OK," Bush said. "I was looking for Bianca. I'm sorry."
So, is there actually a teeball reporter pretending to play in the majors whom Bush was told look for if he got into trouble (a la Jeff Gannon) or is it just that he's on the sauce again?
Well, Bianca and Anita do sound a bit alike and Anita is from the propoganda division of the the Republican party. So maybe Bush's handlers forgot to give him his mnemonic, "Mr. President, just sing to yourself, 'I needa/I really need Anita.'...No, sing it to yourself, Mr. President."
At the beginning of a press briefing at the Pentagon today, George W. Bush took a few relatively tough questions about Hurricane Rita, the administration's failure to capture Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, what he's going to cut to pay for Hurricane Katrina and why it's taking so long to secure Iraq's border with Syria. Just as it seemed that the president needed the breather that a friendly, Jeff Gannon-style query might provide, Bush called for a question from someone named Bianca.
There was silence.
"Nobody named Bianca?" Bush asked. "Well, sorry Bianca's not here. I'll be glad to answer her question."
When another reporter -- someone who wasn't Bianca -- offered to ask a question in her stead, Bush said he was "just trying to spread the joy around of asking a question." A minute or two after that, a female reporter tried to put a question to the president.
"Are you Bianca?" Bush asked.
"No I'm not," she said, "Anita -- from Fox News."
"OK," Bush said. "I was looking for Bianca. I'm sorry."
So, is there actually a teeball reporter pretending to play in the majors whom Bush was told look for if he got into trouble (a la Jeff Gannon) or is it just that he's on the sauce again?
Well, Bianca and Anita do sound a bit alike and Anita is from the propoganda division of the the Republican party. So maybe Bush's handlers forgot to give him his mnemonic, "Mr. President, just sing to yourself, 'I needa/I really need Anita.'...No, sing it to yourself, Mr. President."