Much being written and in the blogosphere about an Irish reporter, Carol Coleman, interviewing George W. Bush last week.
The White House said she was rude and disrespectful. Others have said that Bush was caught off-guard by a real reporter who pressed him, in constrast to the White House press corps.
I just watched the interview, and I encourage you to watch it too, because I took away something completely different. It was clear that Ms. Coleman wanted to have a conversation, and Bush wanted to deliver stock answers to questions, one at a time. But it was Bush who was rude. Very rude. He talks to her like she's a child. He's practically mocking her, with a taunting smirk on his face through much of the interview. I don't know if he's doing that because she's Irish, or because she's a woman (perhaps it's both) but he's insulting and demeaning and I'm outraged to see Bush treating ANYONE like that, let alone because he's either an ethnocentrist and/or a sexist. It's clear that he has no respect for her at all. If I were Ms. Coleman, I would be very, very angry. In fact, I'm very angry for her.
Watch the interview, judge for yourself. The White House has posted a written transcript, but you really need to watch the interview because you don't get the feel for what happened just by reading the words.
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