John Nichols: Bush Loses It With MoveOn

[marmar]

from The Nation:


BLOG | Posted 09/20/2007 @ 6:04pm
Bush Loses It With MoveOn


President Bush has made it clear that he does not read newspapers. And there is little reason to believe that the chief executive spends much time viewing serious news programs before his twilight bedtime.

So it is a bit surprising that he has kept up with the controversy surrounding the MoveOn.org advertisement in the New York Times that urged General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, to put aside administration talking points and speak blunt and necessary truths when he briefed Congress last week.

It is even more surprising that the commander-in-chief would in an official setting take the extraordinary step of attacking the advertisement and the group that placed it.

But so Bush did on Thursday in what will rank as one of the more remarkable -- and politically petty -- moments of a remarkable and politically-petty presidency.

In the New York Times advertisement, MoveOn proposed the anything-but-radical notion that a failure of frankness on the general's part would be a betrayal of the troops and the country. That's hardly an unreasonable suggestion, coming as it does at a critical stage in the occupation when young men and women from the United States are dying at a rate of one every ten hours and when $200 billion is removed from the federal treasury each day to maintain what is so obviously a failed mission.

But the president was upset, and he showed it. Tossed a typical soft-ball question at a presidential press conference Thursday morning, Bush responded by saying, "I thought that the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack, not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org -- are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal. And it's one thing to attack me. It's another thing to attack somebody like General Petraeus." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=234964

[Rex]

1. AAAA-HAHAHAHAHA!

O wow! That makes my day! HAHAHAHAHA! Hey George;


Go
Fuck
Youself

EOM

[TomInTib]

6. He can't do it. As OldLeftieLawyer told me once....

"The man could fuck up fucking."

[Rex]

8. You know, I believe that. Bush is the true King Minus Midas.

Never thought I would see such a specimen in my lifetime!

[cliss]

2. Well....my day is made!

In fact, that made my week.
Just the thought of Bush is obsessing openly about the administration's Achilles Heel like that is just.....fabulous.

Dontcha LUV Move On?

[rocktivity]

3. That makes it official--it worked.

The ad has become their worst nightmare because it gives the voters skin in the game. Is it any wonder that they're looking down ways to disenfranchise us from the Internet?

:headbang:
rocknation

[tridim]

4. I'll bet anyone a million bucks that Bush has never even seen the ad

let alone read it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. I'll bet you're right.

:evilgrin:

[monmouth]

5. Mission Accomplished!!

[snappyturtle]

7. Off to the greatest! Love John Nichols...thanks for posting. nt

[L. Coyote]

9. $200 billion from the federal treasury each day = $666 per American daily.

Does anyone else see the irony in his math?

And maybe a typo :rofl:

[deacon]

10. He likes swiftboaters though. No rest for soldiers - attack anti war crowd.

"Stay the Course". Great logic and priority list huh?

This is now not just Bush's war, it's the GOP's war.

[L. Coyote]

11. This so smells on Willie Horton already... total theatre using the military as pawns

in politics. The question was a plant, in all likelihood, and the response practiced for an hour or more,

to avoid Bushisms :rofl: "I think war is a dangerous place."

"I'm not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because
I live in America, where it's nice and safe and secure."

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking
about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

"When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were.
It was us versus them, and it was clear who them was. Today we are not so sure who
the they are, but we know they're there."

"Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace."

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."

"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack
each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I
believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right."

[eppur_se_muova]

12. It was the name-calling that got his attention. Bullies can grasp name-calling. nt

[Eagle_Eye]

13. MoveOn.org has really hit a raw nerve with the republicans

We need to keep pressing this issue of the bush white house using the military for political gain.
We need to press this issue to victory in the next election.

[Bluerthanblue]

14. i'm waiting for * to bumble and call him "General Praetorian-ous"-

:shrug:

it could happen-

[OneBlueSky]

16. "there is little reason to believe that the chief executive spends much time viewing . . .

serious news programs before his twilight bedtime" . . .

there's serious news programs? . . . what? . . . where? . . . who? . . .

[baby_mouse]

17. Thaaaat's better. NT

[Larkspur]

18. Eli Pariser framed his response to Bush PERFECTLY!!!

...the president handed the loudest microphone in the land to MoveOn. AndMoveOn.org Political Action Committee executive director Eli Pariser grabbed it with gusto.

"What's disgusting is that the President has more interest in political attacks than developing an exit strategy to get our troops out of Iraq and end this awful war," said Pariser, who argued that, "The President has no credibility on Iraq: he lied repeatedly to the American people to get us into the war. Most Americans oppose the war and want us to get out. Right now, there are about 168,000 American soldiers in Iraq, caught in the crossfire of that country's unwinnable civil war, and the President has betrayed their trust and the trust of the American people."

Thank Goddess for Eli Pariser and MoveOn.org!!!