More oddly direct truth-telling from The Washington Post's Dana Milbank:
Bush's perplexity may have resulted from the questioners' failure to cooperate with his chosen theme: scolding Democrats for the "political theater" -- as Bush and Vice President Cheney have put it in recent days -- of attempting to end the war in Iraq. "There's been a political dance going on here in Washington," Bush repeated yesterday.
To provide this criticism of Democrats' political theater, the White House staged its usual elaborate production. The Rose Garden was strung with thick cables and dotted with amplifiers, klieg lights and risers for the television cameras. A braided rope and brass posts kept reporters 20 feet from the president. The White House allowed only one network to videotape the event.[...]
At first, Bush's only uncertainty was how to describe his opponents. He referred to the "Democrat leaders" and the "Democrat leadership" before correcting himself to say "Democratic leadership."
Meanwhile, I really do find these gotchas annoying:
"Mr. President, are you aware of the current price of a gallon of gas?"
"About $2.60-plus," Bush answered, just shy of the Energy Department's $2.71 national average.
Herman sensed a good deal. "Where are you shopping, sir?" he inquired.
Presidents don't buy their own gas, purchase their own milk, do a whole lot of shopping, or generally live lives much like yours or mine. This is a positive thing for a variety of reasons, among them the simple fact that trying to back a motorcade into a Shell station or use the Secret Service to secure a Safeway is rather inconvenient for the rest of the world. Bush has plenty of bad economic and energy policies, and reporters should merrily crucify him for the failings. But a precise recall of daily commodity prices just isn't part of the job description.
Update: In comments, Jeff writes:
I hate Bush, but missing the current price of a gallon of gas by 10 to 15 cents does not make you out of touch. Being the rich son of a rich family and having the White House handed to you as a family keepsake makes you out of touch. But anyone who has not filled up their tank in the last week can miss gas prices by that much-- they go up and down rather quickly, after all.
