INSIDE THE BRAIN OF ARI FLEISCHER

The Houston Chronicle's Craig Hines speculates on how outgoing press secretary and amusing comedian, Ari Fleischer, develops his material for presidential press conferences and nightclub performances (as if there was a difference):

Fleischer liked to picture himself as a free-roaming agent who wandered in the Oval Office as needed to determine presidential thinking on any topic. But he more often has appeared to be an automaton wound up every morning and sent forth to spew out whatever line of the day had been decided on by a hidden information apparatchik. For instance, in late March, as the attack on Iraq progressed, Fleischer repeatedly attempted to sell the president's tax cut on the dubious basis that it was needed to create jobs for returning service personnel. If he thought it up by himself, why didn't someone else in the administration stop him?

For more insight into a very funny brain, click here.

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