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[Atticus Grinch]

Ever wonder what would happen if an American president were confronted with a European (non-WH-pool lapdog) journalist --- the kind who actually press their questions until they're answered, and become confrontational in order to represent the confrontational questions being asked by their readers?

• On the eve of his departure for the European Union-U.S. summit in Ireland late last week, George W. Bush gave a sit-down interview to Irish TV journalist Carole Coleman in the White House Map Room. (Radio Television Eire; video clip may not work with all players)
  
  Unlike American reporters, who lob softball questions Bush can field with prepared, rehearsed answers, Coleman performed as most European broadcast interviewers normally do -- in a naturally engaging, intellectually rigorous, conversational manner. However, Bush bristled at Coleman's questions and interviewing style, about which the White House (which posted a transcript of the session on its Web site) later "lodged an official complaint with the Irish embassy in Washington." (Times; subscription required)
  
  "[T]he majority of our public do not welcome your visit because they're angry over Iraq, they're angry over Abu Ghraib. Are you bothered by what Irish people think?" Coleman asked as the interview began. If such questioning set the encounter's tone, so did Bush's tendency to respond by testily demanding, "Listen ...." At one point he commanded, "Let me finish. Let me finish, please. Please. You ask the questions, and I'll answer them, if you don't mind." (White House transcript)
  
  Reminding Bush that U.S. forces never had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after toppling Saddam Hussein, Coleman noted, "Mr. President, the world is a more dangerous place today. I don't know whether you can see that or not." Bush replied, incredulously, "Why do you say that?" Sounding defensive, he insisted that subsequent terrorist bombings in Bali, Istanbul and Madrid were not related to his invasion of Iraq. (White House transcript)
  
  Coleman tried to pursue her theme, saying, "But I think there is a feeling that the world has become a more dangerous place because you have taken the focus off al Qaeda and diverted [it to] Iraq. Do you not see that the world is a more dangerous place? I saw four of your soldiers lying dead on ... television the other day ...." (White House transcript)
  
  "Listen, nobody cares more about the death than I do ...," Bush retorted.
  
  And so it went for what, for Bush and his aides, turned out to be an excruciating 15 minutes. "Bush and his media handlers" were "furious" at Coleman, the first Irish reporter in 20 years to land a White House interview with a U.S. president. They bemoaned what they felt had been her "lack of respect." (Times; subscription required)
  
  As a result, "journalists traveling with ... Bush ... in Europe noted," the White House canceled an interview First Lady Laura Bush had been scheduled to do with Radio Television Eire after arriving in Ireland with her husband. (EU Business)

Penske cite.