WASHINGTON POST LETS WHITE HOUSE DISTANCE ITSELF FROM "STAY THE COURSE"

[ProSense]

WASHINGTON POST LETS WHITE HOUSE DISTANCE ITSELF FROM "STAY THE COURSE" RHETORIC.

This borders on the surreal. From today's WaPo:

Many Democrats accuse the president of advocating "stay the course" in Iraq, but the White House rejects the phrase and regularly emphasizes that it is adapting tactics to changing circumstances, such as moving more U.S. troops into Baghdad recently after a previous security strategy appeared to fail.

Democrats accuse the President of advocating "stay the course" in Iraq? The President's constant assertion that we should "stay the course" in Iraq is a matter of objective fact, not of partisan accusation. And why no fact-check of the White House's "rejection" of the phrase? The White House doesn't reject the phrase. At all.

Indeed, the last time President Bush advocated staying the course in just those words was...yesterday:

August 30, 2006:
"We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century."

This shouldn't need pointing out, but "stay the course" has of course been a Bush stock phrase for years now. August 5, 2005:

We will stay the course. We will complete the job in Iraq. And the job is this, we'll help the Iraqis develop a democracy.

April 13, 2004:

And my message today to those in Iraq is: We'll stay the course; we'll complete the job. My message to our troops is: We will stay the course and complete the job and you'll have what you need.

July 10, 2003:

A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course.

In fairness, there's some good stuff in the WaPo piece, too, but this is just sloppy. With the White House about to unleash another major "public relations offensive" on Iraq, reporters are about to get hit with another relentless fusillade of official lying, and much of it will be of the "we-aren't-advocating-stay-the-course" variety. How will the press handle it? At a moment when Dems are aggressively challenging the GOP over Iraq, it's understandable that White House officials would be desperate to avoid accountability for their own past statements and actions, but that doesn't mean the big news orgs should help them do it.

Relatedly, Atrios notes that Ken Mehlman has been "berating" media figures for holding the administration accountable for its own words. It looks as if WaPo has gotten Mehlman's memo.

http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/08/post_319.html

Where did anyone get the idea that the White House supports a “stay the course” strategy?

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, 8/17/06: “(Y)ou…cannot be a President in a wartime and not realize that you’ve got to stay the course.”

Snow, 8/16/06: “(T)hat’s why the President is determined to stay the course.”

President Bush, 7/11/06: “As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course.”

Vice President Cheney, 6/6/06: “(W)e have to stay the course.”

People who say the Bush administration wants to “stay the course” in Iraq are not making an accusation, as today’s Washington Post suggests. They are telling the truth.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/31/stay-the-course

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Good Lord they must think everyone is stupider than shit. I guess they've

been given no reason to think otherwise the last 5 years since they have hardly been called on their B.S.

So they JUST changed their propaganda in the last WEEK or so and now everyone's supposed to forget what they've been saying for the last few YEARS? And the Washington Post is playing ball? Don't their damn reporters READ what has been written over and over again in THEIR OWN DAMN PAPER?

:grr: :banghead:

[KansDem]

3. You do know how the Washington Post got its name, don't you?

It used to be called, "Washington, We Report Like Americans Are Dumb As A Post", but since the name proved to be too long to fit on the front page, it was shortened to simply "Washington Post."

See?...really!

}(

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. We need to send LTTEs to the Post, with those quotes, to call them on this

[ProSense]

4. Write Letters to Newspaper Editors

http://www.democrats.org/page/content/partybuilderLTE

Easy to use!

[DeSwiss]

5. n/t

[Supersedeas]

6. recommended - Media analysis like this is so so necessary these days.

[Cha]

7. bush is still staying the non course..they

haven't "adapted" shit. It's still the same old bush Orwellian shite..so go with that. It means nothing..like Howard Dean said, "they can say whatever they want" but what does it mean after so many years of LIES? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[Igel]

8. But they are staying the course (def. 1).

They claim they're just not staying the course (def. 2).

Def. 1: Stay until the event is over.

Def. 2: Continue to use the same tactics.

[arcane1]

9. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia

[underpants]

10. What's good for M&M Enterprises is good for the country

That's some catch that Catch 22

[ProSense]

11. Salt Lake sounds off in protest and support ..."Rock Against Rumsfeld"

Salt Lake sounds off in protest and support

Utahns show their protest and support

By Heather May
and Christopher Smart
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

A crowd of thousands cheered Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson for calling President Bush a "dishonest, war-mongering, human-rights violating president" whose time in office would "rank as the worst presidency our nation has ever had to endure."

The group - including children and elderly and some hailing from throughout Utah - then marched to the federal building Wednesday to deliver a copy of a symbolic indictment against the president and Congress for abuse of power and failure to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

With their signs labeling Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld the "axis of evil," calling the Iraq war a "mission of lies" or comparing the invasion of Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001, to invading Mexico after Pearl Harbor, the estimated 1,500 to 4,000 protesters hoped their demonstration at the Salt Lake City-County Building sent a message about the reddest state in the country.

"If they lack support in Utah, my God they're in trouble," the Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City told the lively gathering between protest songs and banner waving.

For those who didn't get enough, organizers held a "Rock Against Rumsfeld" concert at Pioneer Park in the evening. Between songs, Salt Lake City singer Colin Robison challenged Rumsfeld's Tuesday speech to the American Legion.

"Critics of the war were equated with Nazi sympathizers. How dare he?" Robison asked the crowd of over 300. "What about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay? Who's the Nazi?

more...

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4265337

[Qutzupalotl]

12. It's the definition of insanity.

(As I said on another thread)

Doing the same thing the same way and hoping for a different result.

[ProSense]

13. Media Matters

Media claim Bush administration has disavowed "stay the course" rhetoric, but White House is still using it