Posted on 01/20/2005 4:14:21 PM PST by satchmodog9
Inside a dim American Legion hall in Florida, President Bush (news - web sites) had just finished his inaugural address, and Joe Echeverria was impressed.
AP Photo
Reuters Slideshow: Bush Inauguration
Bush spoke of freedom, of the goal to end tyranny and urged the nation to find unity.
Echeverria, a 62-year-old Air Force veteran and Republican, drank his whiskey from a tall glass, then pumped his fist in the air. He liked how concise Bush was and that he didn't make empty promises.
"All right, Bush!" he said to the television above the bar in Tampa.
Two barstools away, Democrat Phil Sullivan, another Air Force veteran, caught some of the remarks, but not because he wanted to.
He had turned off his hearing aid.
"I wish him the best, but I'm not wild about his war, and I am not wild about his Social Security (news - web sites) plan," said Sullivan, 74.
Bush spoke for 21 minutes, about the work needed to protect America and of a world moving toward liberty. He mentioned overhauling Social Security and spoke in sweeping terms about keeping the world safe. Never did he mention Iraq (news - web sites) or Afghanistan (news - web sites).
And Todd Wood, a West Virginia University senior from Lewisburg, W.Va., found that omission unsettling. In Las Vegas, former high school French teacher Linda Cotten found it alarming.
Both were concerned Bush will force his will upon other countries.
"He's assuming too much responsibility," said Cotten, a 59-year-old Democrat who voted for Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) in the presidential election. "It seems to me that he's laying ground for Iran and North Korea (news - web sites)."
The bottom line for Cotten?
"I don't trust the man," she said.
In Ohio, the state that gave Bush the White House, Melvin Davis, 24, wanted to know what will be different over the next four years and how Bush plans to get the country out of Iraq.
Davis, a student at Ohio State University law school, has a brother serving in Iraq.
"Most of what he said throughout is last four years. Nothing new," he said.
Michael Mindell, a 31-year-old Burlington, Vt., resident who was passing through downtown Kansas City, Mo., ignored the inauguration on the Country Club Cafe television, saying: "I don't believe in anything that he says."
At a sports bar in Brentwood, Tenn., customers ate lunch while only a handful paid attention to Bush's speech on the big-screen TV.
In Pittsburgh, Bob Romah, a 50-year-old Republican, didn't think much of the inaugural events. Inside the Original Oyster House, Romah purposely chose a table away from the television showing Bush's address.
"What's the estimate on what was spent today for this? Forty or $50 million? He's been the president for four years. Is it really necessary for all this pomp and circumstance?" Romah said as he drank a glass of buttermilk and pepper.
But Las Vegas tourist Mary Jane Fincher was sold.
"These are difficult times we are living in," said Fincher, a Republican real estate appraiser from Illinois. "It's a speech of purpose and hope."
___
Associated Press reporters John Gerome in Tennessee, Joe Mandak in Pennsylvania, Elizabeth DeForest in Ohio, Mitch Stacy in Florida, Heather Hollingsworth in Missouri, and Vicki Smith in West Virginia contributed to this report.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE — Angie Wagner is the AP's Western regional writer, based in Las Vegas.
I watched the swearing-in and speech in the forecourt of my bank, with about 25 other people. Everyone was silent and attentive as if we were in church, listening closely and nodding now and then. No one was loud, rude or obnoxious.
I thought it was just the kind of speech he ought to make.
Exactly. Nothing more than a hit piece.
By my count its 5:2. I suppose that as close to unbiased as you're gonna get with AP.
By your math I guess they were taking it easy on him. Usually they are much more "even".
Or a rich socialite was crazy for wanting to dig a ditch to join two oceans.
To the naysayers, suck it up.
WE lost the war on 8 dec 41.
While being a politically monkey has always been my case, I actually took vacation time to celebrate this day.
God bless our President and our brave fighting men and women!
The mark of a good journalist is that you can't tell, or even make an educated guess, on how they think about the story.
Well, Angie Wagner, who compiled all these reports into this story, is not a good journalist.
What Bush did today was breathtaking in its daring.
After the Dems have spent decades waxing on and demonstrating about "human rights", Bush is showing them up for the phony windbags they are. And they have no way out. They've spent two years nurturing their anti-war wing and this will definitely bring them to the fore.
It's so amazing, one might almost imagine he planned it this way.
Heh.
It's from the AP, so of course it is. They have to get their jabs in. Jealousy is a very hateful, pathetic emotion. Nomatter how they try to cover it up with the occassional decent remark, it still comes out the same. If they only knew who tired and boring they have become.
However, look who has the last laugh! We do.
Thanks to this website, (and Rush, Hannity and a few others at FoxNews, etc.) we have a place where we can see the truth and exchange views.
10-15 years ago, the AP, CNN, the alphabets, and their ilk were all we had.
No more.
This is a time to celebrate, laugh at the moronic MSM, and thank God that at the end of the day, George W. Bush is calling the shots in our great country for the next 4 years.
What Bush did today was breathtaking in its daring.
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Fine art it was -- he has had a talent for shoving the liberal Dem's world up their xxxes so eloquently each and every time he presents. Bush is so far above the gutter-level parasitic Dems, they have no proper response. They would not even know where to start...Bush is serving the country, and the far-left Dems only know how to serve themselves and thier lust for personal power.
They have to resort to these petty little hit piece articles or news segments on TV - But in the end, we know and they know President GWB is leading this Nation and the Nation is willfully following his brave lead (and it tears them up).
Wonderful to watch - Don't allow their pettiness to get you mad. Laugh at them.
WE lost the war on 8 dec 41.
You lost me there. Please explain this one a little better. I think I know where you are going, but I want to be sure.
Sound familiar.
I got you. Rings in my ear like a bell.
No kidding. It was hard even to notice that a couple people weren't offended by everything Bush believes and does. How much more of this stuff will AP dish out before people stop reading newspapers altogether?
Reading this crap, I'm amazed he was elected.
Both citizans and media are bitter;you can just tell.
Considering his feeble opponent, he shoulda won in a landslide.
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