In case you’re not aware, ABC news now has a video that shows Bush’s reaction to the final act of Colbert’s Shakespearean performance…
Indeed, this video reeks of Hamlet (except, of course, we already know he’s guilty):
“The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”
(if you would like to use this animated GIF, please upload it to a different link. Thanks!)
(This is the point at which Helen Thomas asks, “Why did we go to war in Iraq?”)
>>>OR HERE<<<
(UPDATE: YouTube has again deleted this video from their site)
And, in case YouTube takes this video down (like the CSPAN video), here’s the ABC link (it’s the full speech, though):
NOTE: Some have suggested that some of us copy this video and post it at other video blog sites
The best reaction is when Helen Thomas is first asking the Iraq questions.
I wish the Colbert team had made a video like this for the entire performance.
(Bush, looking as though he’s reacting to someone else about Colbert — is he reacting to a comment in his ear?)
(as for this exchange, I am sure if I read his lips correctly — he said, “I’m sorry”. Bush replied, “That’s alright.” Anyone agree?)
David Froomkin from the Washington Post has posted a response to this video:
…You’ll see that Bush chuckles at first. But at 17:55, when NBC’s David Gregory asks “Did Karl Rove commit a crime?” Bush’s jaw makes that peculiar shifting motion that seems to happen a lot when he’s under stress.
At about 19:14, when Hearst columnist and presidential scourge Helen Thomas makes her first appearance on the video, correspondents’ association president Mark Smith says something to Bush, which he shrugs off. Was it an apology? (Any lip readers out there?)
And check out the contemptuous head-shake at 19:42, just as Thomas is finally uncorking her seminal question: “Why did you really want to go to war?”
From then on, there are jaw twitches, lip purses and eye squinches aplenty.
There’s a wry smile at 22:49. If I’m not mistaken, that’s at the point where it looked like Colbert might just possibly run Thomas over with his car.
When the video ends — “Helen Thomas, ladies and gentlemen!” says Colbert — Bush responds with very sarcastic-looking, lackluster applause.
