Bush Flip Flops

Another in an ongoing series of Bush's long list of flip flops:

While Bush's style sounds conversational, his speeches, made with only occasional glances at notes, are increasingly practiced, with the same stories and arguments appearing in the same places.

Still, there are occasional variations. In one telling of his riff about the majesty of the Oval Office, he notes that it leaves any visitor speechless -- except for "my mother, who walked in and continued to tell me what to do."

That line was in Las Vegas. In Florida, however, he made the same point but said that the Oval Office is so powerful "it's the kind of place where my mother walks in and feels so overwhelmed, she won't tell me what to do."

Now, obviously, this one is minor. It's even more minor when one considers the whole accumulation of Bush's travails with truth, clarity, and consistency. Yet, when someone struggles as mightily as Bush has struggled with candor and fidelity it's worth asking: If he can't (or won't) get the little, easy things right, why should we think he will be any better at the important and difficult things?