Seeking friendly audiences (though they're getting harder to find)

Does anyone else feel like Bush's choices of venue for his recent appearances are often really cheap? Take his appearances at military bases, for example. A crowd of active-duty military members is guaranteed to be friendly; he's appearing in front of a group of people who are legally forbidden from criticizing him*. Or his appearances at high schools, where students are generally not allowed to do anything disruptive. What we have is a President who refuses to acknowledge how unpopular he is, to appear in front of a general audience and take it on the chin. I don't blame him, exactly, but I'd respect him more if he didn't insulate himself so much from dissent.

* Making public statements critical of President Bush was one of the original "conduct unbecoming an officer" charges against Lt. Watada, for example.