He's manifestly different here from his usual persona. Yes, he seems languid, aloof, olympian sometimes; here he seemed sloppy, vague, unfocussed. The remark about Reagan was totally incoherent. The trajectory of his thoughts is bizarre. he;s drunker here than W was at that wedding some years after he'd given booze up. He and W should go mountainbiking and perhaps grab a pretzel when they return home.

(Bush is obviously still a drunk--the inexplicable bruises, the chainsmoking wife...)

Posted at August 4, 2005 6:17 PM in response to Novak

Honestly, it's nearly comical that any theory other than drunkenness is even being discussed. He was so drunk I thought he was going to grab my ass! He was so drunk I went and checked my liquor cabinet!!

Please, people--attributing strategy at this moment (he was preempting questions about Plame, etc.) gives him too much credit. Absolutely the extra martinis are symptomatic of an inner life in crisis: my guess is Rove's thugs own this guy's sad, cable-tv balls right now.

Posted at August 4, 2005 5:01 PM in response to Novak

Hello:

Novak is unequivocally, indisputably, egregiously WASTED on this clip. Drunk as a skunk. Speech blurred and slowed, claims amazingly weird, saucer-eyed and barely hanging on. This was clear to me from the first frame. Comments?

DPC

Posted at August 4, 2005 4:18 PM in response to Novak