"I'm glad you asked me that question" is the traditional way to deal with that sort of difficulty. And you then go ahead and answer some question you weren't asked. Tony Blair can do this kind of thing standing in his head (which is more or less what he is doing politically anyway.)

But with Bush it's a whole different game he's playing. By fluffing this one so completely he wins. Not only does he get the vote of people who enjoy watching clowns and don't care too much about politics anyway, he also reassures a lot of people that he's not really a politician, he's a regular guy.

Basically it's Homer Simpson for President. Pretty frightening.

All right, there are some nuts who don't like the thought of Homer Simpson for President, especially when they've seen what that means in action, but they shouldn't be counted as real Americans.

They had a poll here the other day, and most Conservative voters in Britain preferred Kerry to Bush. Unfortunately British Conservative voters don't get to vote in the US elections.

On second thoughts, that is a bit unfair on Homer Simpson. He'd make a much better President. More fundamental dignity.)