'Mr. President, How Do You Like My Tie?'

President Bush is giving a press conference right now; I'm watching it live. With the Foley/GOP implosion and intra-party dissent on Iraq in the headlines, he wants to reassert himself in the news. So far, he's spinning like crazy on his administration's Korea policy and on what is happening on Iraq (he coined a new word: 'Isradicals').

He also just admitted his 'go it alone' foreign policy has been a failure and asked why people are getting mad now that he's worked with others diplomatically on the North Korean issue when they had criticized that old policy. Maybe it's because no one's seen any evidence that they ever even had a real diplomatic approach, or any approach besides rhetoric, to the issue. Ignored a question on what his 'red line' is on North Korea and refused calls for direct bilateral talks.

On Iraq, he keeps saying over and over 'the stakes couldn't be higher' and isn't saying much else. He also just dismissed new information on the number of Iraqi civilian deaths and says he doesn't "accept" those numbers. Disgusting. He also repeated that nonsensical 'If we leave Iraq, the enemy will follow us here'. Somebody really needs to demand that he explain/defend that retarded logic. He also denied that we have a 'stay the course' policy while then insisting that we need to stay the course. This is a train wreck.

Now he's playing the fear/terror card- spinning on his terror policies (making the detainee bill just about 'interrogation' and no mentions of torture and habeas corpus) and accusing Democrats of 'not understanding the world'. Yawn. A reporter called him on it, and the President insists his characterization is correct and that Democrats don't want to interrogate 'folks' or deal with attacks. Says they have fixed the image problems caused by Abu Ghraib, ignoring that the bill they just passed retroactively pardons such past and future abuses. I feel safer already.

Now it's getting repetitive (this press conference could've mostly be given using old sound clips from old speeches) and he's dodging on most of the North Korea questions. Another press conference that will remembered by no one in two days.

I'm going back to bed.

[Related: North Korea threatens war over sanctions (AP)]