A reader:

My favorite part of the day was in the Rose Garden when the reporters kept asking Bush about how horribly things were going and Bush finally said (paraphrasing here) “because I ask him and talk to him,” referring to Allawi, “and I believe him,” he said looking right at the reporter. It was great. Similarly, another reporter asked Bush another question about how the conditions in Iraq, he was flustered and said “why don’t you ask him” referring again to Allawi, “you have the Prime Minister of Iraq here, why ask me?” Again, great point. You could see that the reporters didn’t care a bit about what Allawi had to say about what his firsthand impression of Iraq was, they just wanted to hammer Bush over and over. I don’t think they succeeded. It was pretty obvious they were desperate to ignore Allawi and the positive message he was bringing.