Adventures in Headline Writing--Fleischer, Letterman duke it out on CBS

I stayed up and watched this show. A slugfest, it wasn't. As always with political folks, Letterman was cordial. He did press Fleischer for details on why the statement about British intelligence wound up in the State of the Union, and Fleischer answered in the mode of a just-barely-former White House spokesman, and his response about the need to remove Saddam from power brought a round of applause from the audience.

The quips about pronouncing "nuclear" where clearly in jest, and Fleischer handled them with good humor. (And for those of you who think pronouncing it "nucular" confirms all your worst thoughts about Bush, just remember that there was a President who, even though he was a nuclear engineer, pronounced it "nukier".)

As for Helen Thomas, Fleischer was nicer than some folks.

In all, it was a nice, plain, sorta softball interview with the guy. Fleischer did seem to have installed some sort of Joe Biden grin reflex, however. One second his smile was nearly as taut as the Jack Nicholson playing the Joker--the next second, he was the very picture of stony-faced probity.

Reba's only comment was that she would rather have watched George Stephanopoulos.
posted by Terry at 10:27:00 AM