On the surface, it’s a farce: Watch Bush look stupider and stupider as he’s addressing the nation. But in practice, it’s pretty interesting.
Slate has ingeniously combined what people think of Bush’s last presidential speech with a video of him talking. They had a research group measure people’s reactions to the speech as it happened, and then show the trends move up and down as Bush lays out different points for what he wants to do in Iraq. You’ll see his credibility plunge when he argues we should commit more troops to Iraq, although it bounces back up as he brings up the fear of al-Qaida and how we’re the best hope for humanity.
Combining data and video is an intriguing technique; it’s like how The Daily Show sequences video clips to shatter political rhetoric with reality. Given how much politicians work to control how their ideas are presented (backdrops, vetted crowds, spin), I don’t think it’s a bad thing to try to cut through their message with some actual facts.