Tony Snow: Bush 'Doesn't Absorb a Rejection' in Election

[Jon8503]

By E&P Staff - Published: November 09, 2006 4:25 PM ET

NEW YORK At his afternoon briefing today, Press Secretary Tony Snow naturally fielded many questions about the Rumsfeld exit and the president's response to the mid-term elections. The Senate, as well as the House, was about to swing the Democrats' way, with Sen. George Allen admitting defeat in Virginia, but Snow painted the president as not feeling personally rejected by all this.

He said Bush did not view this as a rebuke and added, "The President doesn't absorb a rejection."

Snow also stated that any shift in strategy on Iraq that left that country still "riven" with violence, or not "stable," with a U.S. exit was "off the table."

Asked if the president had fudged any other information in recent chats with reporters -- beyond his strong support for Rumsfeld last week -- Snow denied that any other statements were now "inoperative."

Here is the relevant portion of the transcript.
*

Q I'm just wondering what's the President's mood in the last 36 hours? He's been given this -- what many people are interpreting as a rebuke. How is he handling this? What are you seeing?

MR. SNOW: Look, he's handling it the way he handles all these things. I mean, I was up watching election returns. The President is not a guy who's -- I'm afraid he doesn't get on the couch, Jim. What he does is -- the statement he's made many times is, "What it is is what it is." And what you have to do is now figure out how you're going to proceed.

Q But what it is is a rebuke.

MR. SNOW: No. What it is is it's an election return, Jim. And elections -- the President understands, especially in six terms of presidency. The message in the election return is you're going to have a Democratic House and we'll see what happens in the Senate. But the other things is that as President you figure out the best way to move forward with the things that are important to you. And, I've mentioned many times, the President is going to be absolutely aggressive on making sure that these last two years are years in which we do accomplish a lot of the people's business.

Q Tony, isn't the message -- is the message the people have spoken? This was largely a referendum on his policy in Iraq. We don't like the policy in Iraq comes the message back from the voters. So he's having to absorb this rejection.

MR. SNOW: Well, no. The President doesn't absorb a rejection. A couple of things: In ten of the races, you had members of the House of Representatives on the Republican side who have been tainted by scandal. I'm not sure Iraq played a big role in those races. The voters said, you know what, we expect you to come to Washington and do the people's business. And when people lose sight of that, voters tend to remind them of the priorities. That's 10 seats right there.

**

Q The President said in the Rose Garden that he's open to any and all suggestions and ideas on Iraq. Does this mean that he's now willing to consider a change of strategy as well as tactics?

MR. SNOW: No. I mean, again, the strategy is clear. Any and all ideas that are going to lead us toward that independent, free-standing Iraq. In other words, if the idea is an Iraq run by al Qaeda, sorry. That's off the table, not interested. If you want an Iraq riven by violence with outsiders coming in, that's off the table. What the President is interested in is a free, democratic, and stable Iraq that is able to be an ally in the war on terror.

That's unchangeable. Ways to get there -- open for all suggestions.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003380295

[LynnTheDem]

1. bubble-boy bush still in total denial? Gee surprise.

Don't matter what bush does or doesn't "absorb", Snowjob. Reality s there for all the world to see.

AMERICANS MADE THE REALITY, bush. You're left to study it.

[gratuitous]

2. Good for the reporter who asked if there were any other lies

It should be a standard question and follow-up anytime someone from this pack of liars gets in front of a microphone: Was the answer you just gave true, or was it a lie designed to get us off this subject? And are there any other answers you've given recently that are now totally the opposite, did that happen before or after you gave that answer?

You have to pin these fuckers down like bugs on a mounting board to get anything resembling a straight answer out of them.

[tenshi816]

3. The President doesn't absorb

anything. His head is too dense.

Edited to add: I can't believe Crony McSnowjob was so nonchalant as to say this:

In ten of the races, you had members of the House of Representatives on the Republican side who have been tainted by scandal. I'm not sure Iraq played a big role in those races. The voters said, you know what, we expect you to come to Washington and do the people's business. And when people lose sight of that, voters tend to remind them of the priorities. That's 10 seats right there.

They lost 10 seats because of Republican corruption and scandal, and that's not a concern to anyone on their team? Jeebus, no wonder they didn't see it coming.

[Beetwasher]

4. DEMS HAVE A MANDATE!!!!!!!!!

Arrrgghhh!! It's so frustrating (but not surprising) that no one in the media is calling it what it is.

[DBoon]

5. "doesn't absorb a rejection."? "inoperative"?

Sounds very Nixon-ian to me

They are evading responsibility and defending the indefensible by using bureaucratic jargon to hide their true intents.

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism., question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

[truthisfreedom]

6. "ABSORB a rejection"??? type that into the google in quotes and search the internets

there's ONE use of that, historically, on the internets.

these people just make shit up. it's like the English language has no history when they start speaking.

[Kierkegaard]

7. Snow's performances remind me of The Black Knight scene from

Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

ARTHUR and BLACK KNIGHT:
Aaah!, hiyaah!, etc.
(ARTHUR chops the BLACK KNIGHT's left arm off)

ARTHUR:
Now stand aside, worthy adversary.

BLACK KNIGHT:
'Tis but a scratch.

ARTHUR:
A scratch? Your arm's off!

BLACK KNIGHT:
No, it isn't.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XgQx-ZYwHyA

[Porcupine]

8. The pResident doesn't absorb REALITY!!! On ANY issue.

Choose any issue; Climate change, education, tax cuts, abortion, Iraq, Afghanistan, Peak Oil. GWB lives in a little world of his own where the objective reality of rest of the world does not exist.

The man doesn't believe in gravitation for god's sake.

[seabeyond]

9. this is why bushie boy didnt know he was going to lose. doesnt "absorb"

shit.....

so consistant our bushie boy

[Bouncy Ball]

10. Heeeee.

So if your boss says you're fired, just tell him or her that "you don't absorb that" and show up the next day.

ROFL!