Fleischer Keeps Cool
by:
Will Scullion
When he agreed to conduct a video conference with students from three American universities, Ari Fleischer may or may not have expected verbal attacks from any of the students. Whether he did or not may never be known because Fleischer handled everything thrown at him like a pro.
Fleischer addressed questions from students from Pace University, Denver University and George Mason University on Jan. 31 from the C-Span studios in Washington D.C.
The first student to ask a question was Pace student Frank Clifford. Clifford, who was clearly not a fan of Fleischer, launched a verbal attack on the former press secretary about statements Fleischer made in the lead-up to the Iraq war.
"The more you lied,you aimed your lies at people's emotions and got their judgement on the situation to change," Clifford said.
Fleischer did not lose his temper and very calmly rebuked everything Clifford said.
"Just because we were wrong about what he had doesn't mean that we were liars," Fleischer said.
The atmosphere for the rest of the press conference was much less hostile.
Fleischer went on to answer questions dealing with partisanship, 9/11 and how he dealt with journalists. Fleischer answered each questions witht the same professional ease that he answered Clifford's question with.
Fleischer also spoke about his origins with the Bush administration and how he became their first press secretary.
The entire press conference can be viewed here.