Misadventures of the emperor

Brought to my attention by a reader: From Crooks and Liars

‘What exactly did I say?’

By: Steve Benen @ 5:10 AM - PDT

Bush at a press conference on Saturday:

Q: And on the deadline [for Kosovo independence]?

Bush: In terms of the deadline, there needs to be one. This needs to come — this needs to happen. Now it’s time, in our judgment, to move the Ahtisaari plan. There’s been a series of delays. You might remember there was a moment when something was happening, and they said, no, we need a little more time to try to work through a U.N. Security Council resolution. And our view is that time is up.

Bush at a press conference on Sunday:

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Yesterday you called for a deadline for U.N. action on Kosovo. When would you like that deadline set? And are you at all concerned that taking that type of a stance is going to further inflame U.S. relations with Russia? And is there any chance that you’re going to sign on to the Russian missile defense proposal?

Bush: Thanks. A couple of points on that. First of all, I don’t think I called for a deadline. I thought I said, time — I did? What exactly did I say? I said, “deadline”? Okay, yes, then I meant what I said.

At which point assembled reporters started laughing at him.

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Was it stolen or not?

Bush's Stolen Watch Mystery Solved

FUSHE KRUJE, ALBANIA (Reuters) -- Albanian police say the reports of President Bush's watch being stolen while greeting the crowd in Tirana are untrue.

Video from the presidential visit shows that while he began to work the crowd with a timepiece on his left arm, within seconds it was gone. But video shot at another angle appears to show Mr. Bush removing the watch and either giving it to a security guard or placing it in his pocket.

"The story is untrue and the president did not lose his watch," a spokesman for the embassy in Tirana said.

White House Spokesman Tony Snow set the record straight: "It was placed in his pocket…the president put it in his pocket and it returned safely home."

Some newspapers, television stations and websites carried reports that Bush's watch vanished on Sunday when he was greeted by ecstatic crowds in Fushe Kruje, outside the capital Tirana.

"It is not true," said Albania's police director, Ahmet Prenci.

Photographs showed Bush, surrounded by five bodyguards, putting his hands behind his back so one of the bodyguards could remove his watch.