Where was George?

We have absolutely no evidence to support our view, but we thought we'd share some observations.

• George Bush was informed Saturday afternoon that there was a good chance Saddam would be captured in a military operation later that evening.
  
  
• When the capture was announced on Sunday morning, two hours later Tony Blair came out and issued a statement.
  
  
• That same morning, journalists were wondering why it was taking the president so long to come out and talk to the nation.
  
  
• When Bush finally did appear (a little after noon), his remarks were brief, he did not interact with the press, and he didn't seem to be particulary engaged.
  
  
• However, the next morning Bush was more in control and handled questions reasonably well in a press conference.

Was Bush waiting until Saddam's identity was confirmed? That didn't stop Tony Bliar.

We get the feeling that Bush did something Saturday night. Celebrate avenging his dad's nemesis? Celebrate the occcupation's progress? And after that he was out-of-sorts and had to be prepped merely to get out there for 5 minutes on Sunday.

But he sobered up (or whatever) and was briefed and ready by the next morning.

Again, there is nothing to prove this, but we were struck by the press' comments about why Bush was taking so long to address the nation, and a review of all the events does lead to the suspicion that Bush was non compos mentis for a while.

posted by Quiddity at 12/18/2003 04:34:00 AM