"The swagger is gone from this White House"

[dajoki]

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04assess.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1128449909-FIKvO6NnSJMzOYDnSTMDgw
Supreme Court Choice Shows Bush Is Not Spoiling for a Fight

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: October 4, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 - There is still much to learn about Harriet E. Miers, but in naming her to the Supreme Court, President Bush revealed something about himself: that he has no appetite, at a time when he and his party are besieged by problems, for an all-out ideological fight.

Many of his most passionate supporters on the right had hoped and expected that he would make an unambiguously conservative choice to fulfill their goal of clearly altering the court's balance, even at the cost of a bitter confirmation battle. By instead settling on a loyalist with no experience as a judge and little substantive record on abortion, affirmative action, religion and other socially divisive issues, Mr. Bush shied away from a direct confrontation with liberals and in effect asked his base on the right to trust him on this one. The question is why. On one level, his reasons for trying to sidestep a partisan showdown are obvious, and come down to his reluctance to invest his diminished supply of political capital in a battle over the court.

The White House is still struggling to recover from its faltering response to Hurricane Katrina. The Republican Party is busily trying to wave away a scent of second-term scandal. The relentlessly bloody insurgency in Iraq continues to weigh heavily on his presidency. And no president can retain his political authority for long if he loses his claim to the center.

"The swagger is gone from this White House," said Charles E. Cook Jr., editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter, citing a litany of other difficulties afflicting the administration, including high gasoline prices and the failure of Mr. Bush's push to overhaul Social Security. "They know they have horrible problems and they came up with the least risky move they could make."

[phantom power]

1. WTF? Their "least risky move" is more blatant cronyism??

You'd think they could have at least found another Robert's clone. Some guy with some bench experience, but still a cypher.

[Pirate Smile]

2. They were just discussing Bush with that exact line on MSNBC.

I love it - the swagger is gone - Bush has lost his swagger. The media has a new talking point

:evilgrin:

[dajoki]

4. like above poster said...

i think it's more cronyism. but if the MSM is saying he lost his swagger, that's good.

[Burried News]

3. Baloney - if he succeeds inpacking the court the swagger will

return pronto. The very fact that he mentioned Social Security shows that they are ready to seize the initiative and blitzkrieg the process. The only time I heard him back off was when the Plame question came up and he refused to answer it it.

The fight with the Republicans is now war. There are no easy victories or decisive skimishes. This is war as Ulysses S Grant saw it and we should be prepared for a series of protracted battles where our will to win is exceeded only by our truthfulness. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Catapalt the Truth.

As for Miers - philibuster.

[dajoki]

6. i'm all for ...

filibuster. nobody knows a fucking' thing about her.

[gademocrat7]

5. Now that the swagger is gone, can shrub go too??

It appears Delay will be going away. Will we be lucky enough to see the whole evil lot turned out???

[dajoki]

12. wouldn't that be a sweet day!!

[snowbear]

7. So he went from "swagger" to "stagger" ?

http://eliteleague.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/lol!.gif http://eliteleague.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/lol!.gif http://eliteleague.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/lol!.gif

[dajoki]

17. stagger, swagger, stagger

i suspect this pattern has repeated itself many times.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Nothin' left but the stagger...

KARL!! Where's ma highball?! It's damn near past noon.

[yellowcanine]

10. Dang- you beat me to it! See next reply.

[PurityOfEssence]

13. Hey, don't feel bad; Larissa got the jump on both of us

At least it's refreshing to know that Ninny Boy is the obvious pattern joke of all time.

[yellowcanine]

9. Will this make the end of the year Out/IN List? Out: Bush swagger; IN:

Bush stagger.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. Hard to strut wit' yo head up yo butt

Don't believe it, though. I just saw Junior on C-span, and he was endlessly lecturing Congress to get its act together. The arrogant assumption of superiority is the core of his personality, were it to be questioned, he'd cave in a second. He never will, though; he knows he's superior, and if anything gets in his way, it's a conspiracy of inferiors who deserve to be crushed by any means convenient.

[dajoki]

14. that's been his m.o.

doubt if it will change.

[Carolab]

15. BS. This is just a ruse to get people to think Harriet is "okay".

It's a red herring, people.

This lady is TROUBLE.

The day Bush loses his "swagger" is the day he drops dead. And even then, I still think his ghost would swagger.

[Burried News]

16. Agree. Nominated for greatest.