It must have been a bit like one of those dreams for poor old Bush, as he strained to remember the lines he'd been given. And kept on having those interminable pauses as his mind evidently went blank about what he was supposed to say.
Of course it's absurd that people would see anything too significant in the way people perform in this artificial type of panel game. Being good at this stuff doesn't mean you'd be any good at being President, and being piss-poor doesn't mean you couldn't have a fair stab at the job. I mean, you wouldn't select a guitar player for a pick-up band on the basis of how well he or she performed in a "debate" like this, so why select a president?
But that's the way this game is played, and Bush really did appallingly, even embarrassingly, badly. But then, most people know they wouldn't be much more articulate in that kind of situation, so it might not hurt him too much. Might even help, as such people identify with Bush. The Homer Simpson effect, you could call it.
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either Bush is lying or he is woefully misinformed on a wide range of international issues.