Wheeling, Catapulting and Softballing

Having learned from his mistake of allowing a few questions from reporters yesterday, Lieboy took his "affable guy" dog and pony show to the very red Wheeling, West Virgina. He meandered and rambled, gulped, hemmed and hawed, waved his arms about, shrugged his shoulders and made quips through a speech consisting of previous sound bites. WaPo Transcript The "town hall" audience consisted of 2,000 folks invited by the Chamber of Commerce: 250 military families, 80 servicemen, local dignitaries, but not Senators Rockefeller and Byrd. He checked his notes on occasion which shouldn't have been necessary while repeating oft used phrases such as "we're making progress" and other platitudes.
CBS short video at the beginning.
The area around Chimp's hotel appearance was sealed tight.Wheeling Police Department Chief Kevin Gessler said, "We're providing just about everything that they've asked for, along with, you know -- the other local agencies, the Ohio County Sheriff's Department, the state police, the Department of Natural Resources, fire department."
Sheriff Thomas Burgoyne said, "It takes up all of our manpower. We have 25 deputies and everybody who's not on their dying death bed will be working that day."

The questioners were "interesting" to Bush, he "appreciated" their questions, so carefully chosen they might as well have been from the White House:
#1
QUESTION: Mr. President, I have a son that's special forces in Iraq. And I have another son...(APPLAUSE)I have another son that's in the Army. He left college to join the Army. He's out in Hawaii. He's got the good duty right now.But I thank God that you're our commander in chief, and I wouldn't want my boys...(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: OK. Thanks.
QUESTION: Again, I thank God you're our commander and chief. You're a man for our times. And I'm a supporter of yours. And I think it's good that you come out and tell your story. And I think you need to keep doing more of it and tell the story and the history of all of this. And God bless you, and I thank you for your service.
BUSH: Well, I appreciate you saying that.
~~~~
#2
BUSH: Are you in school?
QUESTION: Yes.
BUSH: Did you use me as an excuse to skip school?
QUESTION: Of course.(LAUGHTER)Mr. President, I was wondering, actually, how you felt about America's double standard on nuclear energy as far as countries like Iran, India and Israel go.
BUSH: Yes, I appreciate that.I might ask you to clarify your question of double standard.
QUESTION: How we don't allow Iran to have nuclear energy, yet we're supporting India...
BUSH: Yes, I know. I got it.
~~~~
#3
QUESTION: Sir, thank you for being in West Virginia. I'm the recruiting commander of the West Virginia Army National Guard. And there are a lot of National Guardsmen here with you in Wheeling today. West Virginians are proud and very patriotic people. I'd like for you to share with us what you would say to a young person today who would like to join the National Guard and maybe give some encouraging words in that respect.
BUSH: OK. Thanks. Kind of doing your job for you, all right? (LAUGHTER)
~~~~
#4
QUESTION: President Bush, I'm a professional firefighter here in Wheeling, West Virginia.
BUSH: Thank you, sir. (APPLAUSE)
QUESTION:And back during 9/11, I lost over 300 of my brothers in New York. And I was glad that you were our president at that time and took the fight to the terrorists.
But as I see, you said earlier about the guy in Afghanistan that is going to convert to Christianity, he may get killed over there for doing that.
Do you have an army of sociologists to go over there and change that country? Or are you hoping that in a couple decades that we can change the mindset over there?
BUSH: I appreciate the question. It's a very legitimate question.
~~~~
#5
QUESTION: Do you like living in the White House?
BUSH: Do I like living in the White House? (APPLAUSE)
Yes, that's a good fair question. Your brother's got one, too. Do you want to back to back them? QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
BUSH: OK.Well, I've been the president for five and a half years.I do like living in the White House -- it's an interesting question -- for some practical reasons. I've got a 45-second commute to my office.(LAUGHTER)The food's pretty good.(LAUGHTER)I've enjoyed every second of the presidency.
~~~~
#6
QUESTION: Good afternoon, Mr. President. It is an honor to be here today. Thank you for coming. Greetings from Columbus, Ohio.
BUSH: There you go.(APPLAUSE)
QUESTION: My husband, who is sitting right here with me...
BUSH: Actually, my grandfather was raised in Columbus, Ohio -- not to change subjects.
QUESTION: Well, that's OK. You can do whatever you want to do.
BUSH: Prescott S. Bush.(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: I have a comment, first of all, and then a real quick question.
I want to let you know that every service at our church, you are by name lifted up in prayer -- and you and your staff and all of our leaders. And we believe in you. We are behind you. And we cannot thank you enough for what you've done to shape our country.(APPLAUSE)Second of all, this is my husband who has returned from a 13- month tour in Tikrit.
BUSH: Oh, yes.Thank you, buddy.(APPLAUSE)Welcome back.(APPLAUSE)
QUESTION: His job while serving was as a broadcast journalist. And he has brought back several DVDs full of wonderful footage of reconstruction, of medical things going on. And I ask you this from the bottom of my heart for a solution to this, because it seems that our major media networks don't want to portray the good. They just want to focus...(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: OK, hold on a second.
QUESTION: They just want to focus on another car bomb or they just want to focus on some more bloodshed or they just want to focus on how they don't agree with you and what you're doing, when they don't even probably know how you're doing what you're doing anyway.
But what can we do to get that footage on CNN, on Fox, to get it on Headline News, to get it on the local news? Because you can send it to the news people -- and I'm sorry I'm rambling -- like I have...
BUSH: So was I, though, for about an hour.(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: ... can you use this, and it'll just end up in a drawer because it's good. It portrays the good.
And if people could see that, if the American people could see it, there would never be another negative word about this conflict.
BUSH: Well, I appreciate that.
~~~~
#7
QUESTION: I'm a senior at the local high school, Wheeling Park High School, and I just want to know what your views are on what type of America my generation will lead.
BUSH: An interesting question.
~~~~
#8
QUESTION: Mr. President, thank you again for coming.
My question: I believe that one of our greatest resources is our self-sufficiency. And as you drive down the road you'll see that our community is dying because of the importation of cheap steel. I'd like to know what your plans are to help alleviate this.
BUSH: Well, as you know, right after I got elected, I put a 201 in place...
(APPLAUSE)
~~~~
#9
QUESTION: Mr. President, I want to say it's a privilege and a blessing to be here with you.
BUSH: Thank you.
QUESTION: And thank you for having integrity since you've been in office -- and character.(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Thank you, sir.
QUESTION: My name is Michael Ganoe. I'm statewide field director for the campaign for Hiram Lewis for U.S. Senate.
And I appreciated what you stated earlier about politicians. And as you close today -- I did two years of volunteer work for the Republican Party while I worked a full-time job, and it paid off for me in this position now.
And I see folks that are increasingly discouraged with the status quo because the difference...
BUSH: No campaign speeches.
QUESTION: No, sir, I'm not. I'm not.
BUSH: OK.
QUESTION: My only question is, what would you say to those, whether Democrat or Republican -- how could you encourage those that are dissatisfied with the status quo?
~~~~
Chimp's "fantastic" answers are in the transcript above.
She didn't give her name but #3 has to be this woman.
MAJ A. Kristine McCray-Wood


#9 did give his name and a pitch for his candidate, Lewis.
Michael Ganoe, has quite the religious little bio. (Original link scrubbed, replaced with cached copy and then by a right wing Lewis site...hmmm. What has Mr. Ganoe got to hide that he removed his background from the internet one day after his staged appearance with Bush?)

Oh yes, just a normal town hall meeting where all 2,000 people were very carefully screened ahead of time and prepped to give the pResident some support. Bubble Boy is back to business as usual. It was a load of codswallop aimed at his base. How much longer will the sheep buy it? People are dying while this bastard runs around "selling" his war.

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Note:
Michael Ganoe appears to have scrubbed information since the "question" to Bush.
From Washington Irving High School, to Florida and back few hits...one wonders why.

Michael Ganoe with Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito. Michael grew up in Clarksburg and was working in Florida when he saw Hiram Lewis on Hardball. Energized by the Hardball interview, Michael left his job in Florida and came back to West Virginia to work for Hiram to bring hope and opportunity to the state of West Virginia. Michael is coordinating the grassroots effort statewide as the statewide Field Director for Lewis for Senate, Inc.