"Military audiences are usually quiet during a speech"
Niiice try, Tom. But yet, from the same source, the WH transcript cache, it's easy enough to show that you're just whistling in the partisan darkness. Try the most recent previous appearance before a military audience (that I could find). I counted nine "(applause)" marks inserted by the White House. I'm not going to try much harder than that, because your assertion is simply absurd, based on countless videos of Bush's military photo ops. We've all seen how reliable military audiences used to be in responding to Bush's jingoism. The reality distortion field seems to be fading away.
"Congress" didn't put a thumbs down on Fox. A furious attack launched by John Kerry did.
Another nice try. Too bad Dubya doesn't know what a friend he has in you, TB. Laura, Barney, and Tom...
Sure, let's quibble over semantics. Bush nominated Fox, he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Bush quickly withdrew the nomination. Did he do that for no reason, do you think? Was the FRC's reaction positive but Bush just decided to say "never mind"? Seems to me, and any reasonable person, that if a President knows in advance for certain that a nomination will be rejected, the Senate effectively has ruled, and using a recess appointment is nothing less than an unConstitutional defiance of the Senate's proper role in the nominating process.
You're trying way too hard. How's your blood pressure these days?