Doh!

[Spence]

At the Bush press conference today:PRESIDENT BUSH:Yeah, Peter. You're going to ask that question with those shades on?

Peter Wallsten:I can take them off --

PRESIDENT BUSH: No, I'm interested in the shade look, seriously here.

Peter Wallsten: All right. I'll keep it then.

PRESIDENT BUSH: For the viewers there's no sun. (Scattered laughter.)

Peter Wallsten:I guess it depends on your perspective.

PRESIDENT BUSH: (Laughs, laughter.) Touche. (Laughter.)
Peter Wallsten of the LA Times is legally blind.

[smoak]

Maybe this is taken out of context and he was joking with a friend?? I can not imagine anyone being that stupid?

[AliBabba]

This would be a little too stupid, even for G-dubbs. This had to be an inside joke or something

[Spence]

I can assure you it was not taken out of context. That is the entire exchange between the two of them until Mr Wallsten asked his question. As for it being a private joke, I cannot say, though it seems pretty far-fetched to me. I suspect Mr Bush simply didn't know Mr Wallsten is blind. If Bush's press office failed to inform him of that fact, they should all be fired. If Bush was informed but went ahead with this anyway, well...It helps explain the last five years. :^)

[smoak]

I can assure you it was not taken out of context. That is the entire exchange between the two of them until Mr Wallsten asked his question. As for it being a private joke, I cannot say, though it seems pretty far-fetched to me. I suspect Mr Bush simply didn't know Mr Wallsten is blind. If Bush's press office failed to inform him of that fact, they should all be fired. If Bush was informed but went ahead with this anyway, well...It helps explain the last five years. :^)

Ok, I am probably the least politically interested person with access to the Potomac, but are these media folks the same people Bush would see day-in and day-out??? How could even W not know by now that Wallsten is blind??? And if he doesn't, then we'd be better off trying to get Dustin Diamond to run the country. ARGH!!! I need to avoid these stories b/c while the world knows Bush isn't bright, I really don't need him reaffirming the fact every 10 minutes.

[RedskinsDave]

Is the man Stevie Wonder blind or legally blind? There's a huge difference there.

[Spence]

DAVE: I dunno. Blind enough that he wears sunglasses.
SMOAK: Yes, Bush would be familiar with Wallsten. He's an LA Times reporter on the White House beat. Bush called him out by name.

[Ibleedburgundy]

Now that Bush is not running for re-election can he apologize or will the base view that as a sign of weakness?

[Spence]

President Bush, who often teases members of the White House press corps, apologized Wednesday after he poked fun at a reporter for wearing sunglasses without realizing they were needed for vision loss.

The exchange occurred at a news conference in the Rose Garden.

Bush called on Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten and asked if he was going to ask his question with his "shades" on.

"For the viewers, there's no sun," Bush said to the television cameras.

But even though the sun was behind the clouds, Wallsten still needs the sunglasses because he has Stargardt's disease, a form of macular degeneration that causes progressive vision loss. The condition causes Wallsten to be sensitive to glare and even on a cloudy day, can cause pain and increase the loss of sight.

Wallsten said Bush called his cell phone later in the day to apologize and tell him that he didn't know he had the disease. Wallsten said he interrupted and told the president that no apology was necessary and that he didn't feel offended since he hadn't told anyone at the White House about his condition.

"He 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 said he thought that was a pretty good line. And his only complaint is that the president didn't answer his question at the news conference.Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/14/national/w172231D38.DTL&type=politics)

Very wise of Wallsten to play it that way. Making the President look worse by becoming publicly offended would only cut him off from any access to the White House. He might not have a lot of sight, but he's got plenty of common sense.

[AliBabba]

Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/14/national/w172231D38.DTL&type=politics)

Very wise of Wallsten to play it that way. Making the President look worse by becoming publicly offended would only cut him off from any access to the White House. He might not have a lot of sight, but he's got plenty of common sense.

Here's a link to video coverage of it (http://www.wonkette.com/politics/peter-wallsten/)

Dave: Apparently Stargardt’s disease, which is what Peter Wallsten has, causes a need for shades.

[CNYSkinFan]

This is a gaffe and everyone makes it, it is just kind of funny since he was so "I just got back from Baghdad after personally killing Zaqawri and Rove is not getting indicted" cocky. We have all been there, or at least I have, feeling high and mighty and then saying something stupid to your wife or girlfriend or friend. Props to W for apologizing for it, but I think the last part of the last article Spence posted is pretty funny. The reporter was more mad that WQ did not answer his question then the gaffe.

[smoak]

This is a gaffe and everyone makes it, it is just kind of funny since he was so "I just got back from Baghdad after personally killing Zaqawri and Rove is not getting indicted" cocky. We have all been there, or at least I have, feeling high and mighty and then saying something stupid to your wife or girlfriend or friend. Props to W for apologizing for it, but I think the last part of the last article Spence posted is pretty funny. The reporter was more mad that WQ did not answer his question then the gaffe.

Exactly. I saw it this morning and it didn't seem as bad as I thought yersterday (with only reading the transcript). I have to assume that Wallsten doesn't normally wear shades but you'd still think this would come up before now. I thought the exchange was actually funny and W apologized so no harm no foul I guess.

[Keino]

Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/14/national/w172231D38.DTL&type=politics)

Very wise of Wallsten to play it that way. Making the President look worse by becoming publicly offended would only cut him off from any access to the White House. He might not have a lot of sight, but he's got plenty of common sense.

I also think he was sincere in not being offended.

[dukeuch]

No smoke or fire here. Plenty of other things to rake Bush over the coals about.

[RedskinsDave]

Looks like my question was valid. The man is not "blind". He has macular degeneration. I think the mistake was an honest one and not remotely offensive.

[AliBabba]

Looks like my question was valid. The man is not "blind". He has macular degeneration. I think the mistake was an honest one and not remotely offensive.
link (http://www.mdsupport.org/library/stargrdt.html)
Current research also shows that patients with Stargardt's disease could slow its progression by wearing UV-protective sunglasses and avoiding exposure to bright light.
link (http://www.csbps.com/happen/blindmice.shtml)
This observation suggests that, in the meantime, patients with Stargardt's disease and some forms of AMD could slow the progression of their blindness by wearing sunglasses and avoiding bright light.

[CNYSkinFan]

I don't think Dave was saying the guy should not wear sunglasses, only that the President had no real way to know the guy had the Sunglasses on for medical reasons and it was an honest mistake. This is another funny Bush story, but not much else IMO. The Press people probably should have made Bush aware of the fact but they probably didn't think the Pres was going to get up all cocky and start shooting off at the mouth again. Then again anytime something good happens in this admin he does this. And since it is so rare something good happens I guess we can forgive him his "texas swagger".

[AliBabba]

I don't think Dave was saying the guy should not wear sunglasses, only that the President had no real way to know the guy had the Sunglasses on for medical reasons and it was an honest mistake. This is another funny Bush story, but not much else IMO. The Press people probably should have made Bush aware of the fact but they probably didn't think the Pres was going to get up all cocky and start shooting off at the mouth again. Then again anytime something good happens in this admin he does this. And since it is so rare something good happens I guess we can forgive him his "texas swagger".

don't you guys think he always wears those glasses outside though? and if he does and he's a beat reporter, Bush should have noticed by now that the guy always wears shades.

Either way, you guys are right, it's not that big a deal. But it's just one of those things that you can't believe how often things happen.

whenever i hear something new every week like this, i feel like what Akh said in that post about Chris Henry getting rearrested, "now he's got to be doing this on purpose"

[fent]

don't you guys think he always wears those glasses outside though? and if he does and he's a beat reporter, Bush should have noticed by now that the guy always wears shades.

Either way, you guys are right, it's not that big a deal. But it's just one of those things that you can't believe how often things happen.

whenever i hear something new every week like this, i feel like what Akh said in that post about Chris Henry getting rearrested, "now he's got to be doing this on purpose"

how many times is there a press conference outside, though? Bush already doesn't have very many, and the great majority of those that he does have are inside. like dustin said, he should have been told by his press flacks, but there's not a lot to this story other than another slip of the tongue by bushy.