Bush Apologizes (This should make the Dems salivate!)

I watched the President make some remarks from the Rose Garden yesterday. At the end of his statement, he answered questions from the gaggle of reporters who were chomping at the bit to ask him about anything from Karl Rove to oh....Karl Rove.

The press conference would have been otherwise unremarkable, except for an exchange that I noticed towards the end. President Bush called on Peter Wallsten, of the L.A. Times, for the next question. As Mr. Wallsten began asking his question (about Karl Rove), President Bush asked him if he was going to address him with his "shades" on. The President then went on to quip, "For the viewers, there's no sun."

The press corp laughed and Mr. Wallsten continued with his question, with the sunglasses still on, and the press conference went on without any other notable happenings.

That's the background of the story. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story.

Today Peter Wallsten, in an interview by Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer, shared the reason he was wearing the "shades". Mr. Wallsten has Stargardt's disease which is a form of macular degeneration and can cause vision loss over time. One of the symptoms of the disease is sensitivity to sunlight, even on a cloudy day, which can apparently speed up the rate of loss of vision, hence the sunglasses.

Mr. Wallsten let the AP reporter know that President Bush had called him on his cell phone later in the day to apologize for his comment, as he was unaware of Mr. Wallsten's condition. Wallsten said that he told the President that there was no need to apologize and admitted that he had not told anyone in the White House about the disease. As a result, he said he was not offended by the comment.

President Bush said, "`I needle you guys out of affection,'" Wallsten said. "I said, 'I understand that, but I don't want you to treat me any differently because of this.'"

"Wallsten said the president said he would not treat him differently, so Wallsten encouraged him to 'needle away.'"

"He said, `I will. Next time I'll just use a different needle,'" Wallsten said.

Wallsten is quoted in the article as saying that he thought that was a pretty good line from the President. I agree.

As I read this article, I was reminded of how much the liberals in the country, including almost all of the left-leaning press corp, constantly try to paint President Bush as an arrogant cowboy who never admits his mistakes. They try desperately to catch him in a mistake and craft inane questions in an attempt to get a "soundbite" of the president admitting he was wrong in anything. My guess is that they are giddy with glee over this story because it shows how insensitive President Bush can be and how he doesn't think before he speaks.

Well, let the liberals and the media think what they will. I think the President of the United States showed a lot of humility and concern for his fellow human being when he took the time out of an outrageously busy day to personally call a reporter to apologize for an honest mistake. He didn't have to make that call himself. Other presidents would likely have asked a staffer to do it. Some presidents probably would never have even acknowledged the incident. This president did what an honorable man would do...he humbled himself, apologized, admitted he was wrong and did his best to make things right again. That's all anyone can ask.