Thanks to JetBlue’s TV and my esteemed L.A. hosts, I didn’t miss either of the week’s most important television broadcasts yesterday. Here’s how they stacked up against each other:

- Neither President Bush nor anyone at the Grammys had a reasonable explanation as to why, given the lack of any weapons of mass destruction, the invasion of Iraq had to be done so hastily. Bush came somewhat close with “In other words, we looked at the intelligence. And we remembered the fact that he had used weapons, which meant he had weapons… In other words, he was a dangerous man. And that was the intelligence I was using prior to the run up to this war.” Not terrible, but it doesn’t quite answer the question. OutKast was more lucid about the dicey nature of reading intelligence reports: “You think you’ve got it, Ohh, you think you’ve got it. But got it just don’t get it til’ there’s nothing at all.” True enough, and it’s clear that whether or not there was “nothing at all,” we thought we’d got it, and thus had to go into Iraq and “shake it like a polaroid picture.”

- On the issue of building an international coalition, Bush once again equivocated. He underscored the threat that the world was ignoring - “(We can’t) Let’s let us, kind of, try to contain him. Containment doesn’t work with a man who is a madman.” But his explanation of our failure to get a new UN resolution and decision to act without their blessing was spotty: “In other words, the worlds of the U.N. Security Council said we’re unanimous and you’re a danger. So, it wasn’t just me and the United States. The world thought he was dangerous and needed to be disarmed.” The White Stripes were more forthright in expressing their doctrine of unilateral action: “I’m gonna fight ‘em off, a seven nation army couldn’t hold me back. They’re gonna rip it off, taking their time right behind my back.” Clearly, we were being given the runaround. Unlike, Bush, the White Stripes also offered plan for completing the mission and withdrawing from Iraq: “All the words are gonna bleed from me and I will think no more. And the stains coming from my blood tell me go back home.” See? There ARE levels of casualties that are unacceptable.

- When asked, “Why do people hold you in such contempt?” Bush wasn’t extremely analytical: “Heck, I don’t know… I think that people when you do hard things, when you ask hard things of people, it can create tensions. And I heck, I don’t know why people do it. I’ll tell you, though, I’m not going to change, see? I’m not trying to accommodate.” In this, he echoed Christina Aguilera, who put it a little more eloquently: “I am beautiful no matter what they say. Words can’t bring me down I am beautiful in every single way.”

Neither Bush nor anyone at the Grammys had much to offer when it came to the question of why a wartime President would break with tradition and lower taxes, resulting in rivers of red ink that will have to be paid by future generations. I have to say that this leaves me very disappointed with Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, and the President.