Sink, Please
Kenneth T. Walsh and US News & World Report add one more to the pile of articles that have reported on the demise of the Bush administration, its loss of power, etc. “A Sinking Presidency” brushes quickly over the fact that Bush just won the veto fight, and instead of noting the Democrats have little choice but to fund the war, dives for cover in the “no Plan B” crater. It also ignores the fact that there have been major successes in Iraq — reduction of sectarian killings in Baghdad, the turning of Sunni tribes in Anbar and now in Diyala, something other news outlets can’t ignore but generally prefer to bury under the al-Qaeda carbomb counteroffensive roundup … because death and destruction are more important to the realization of their objectives in Iraq than our successes are, a view they share with al-Qaeda.
But this one ends in a strangely insightful manner that seems to undermine the three and a half previous pages of doom and gloom. It’s like Walsh is buying into the Bush-Lincoln thing:
Yet Bush presses on. Legislators, journalists, and friends come away from private meetings with him with new respect for his command of the issues dear to him-especially Iraq and the Middle East. At one recent meeting, the president spent more than an hour describing, country by country, in impressive detail, the dire consequences of a quick withdrawal. He was compellingly persuasive, at least to the small group of allies who were listening. The problem may be that many other Americans are tuning him out.
Interesting. So if you shut up and listen, Bush is persuasive. Knows what he’s talking about.
So Walsh, despite his reporting that Bush is stuck in a White House bubble, gets it at some level. Now, if he’d pop out of his D.C. bubble, maybe he’d figure out a lot of the Sturm und Drang he cites* is Democratic theater: There is no evidence that Wolfowitz or Gonzales actually did anything wrong. Tenet’s book was slammed by anti-war CIA veterans, among others, as a self-serving crock with factual problems. Waxman is an annoyance focused on rearview irrelevancies in the midst of war. Polls indicate that while Americans don’t like the war and want out, they don’t want to lose. The Democrats are actually having more trouble with their own membership — sharp disagreement, defections on the Iraq vote from both the anti-war faction and moderates, forcing leadership to bribe members withpork to limit the damage – than Bush is having with Republicans, despite their criticism of him. It’s like Congress is sinking or something.
*Curiously, no mention of a recently favorite theme, how Cheney was hamstrung and sidelined by the Scooter Libby conviction. It was supposed to be the end of this administration. Never mind that no one actually did anything wrong in the whole sordid Wilson-Plame affair, except maybe … Wilson and Plame. So what the devil is the matter with this Bush White House, anyway? Why doesn’t it just sink like it is supposed to?
Welcome Bogg dwellers! Stick around. You might learn something. If we love Bush so much, how come we’re having such a good time making fun of him? Him and his new Froggy cowboy pal. Hey look, here’s some of your pals! You know, the ones you want to win! Uh oh, they sound about as bright as the big Bogg himself. Doesn’t bode well for the program.
Topics: Bush
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:45 pm Comments (9) on Monday, May 7, 2007
9 Responses to “Sink, Please”
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May 8th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Oh, That Sinking Feeling
Oh, that sinking feeling… Bush may still exude “confidence, but his ship of state is taking on water-fast.” It seems that some folks believe that everything Bush touches “turns to dust.” Sounds about right to me.
Somewh…
May 8th, 2007 at 4:53 am
What “turns to dust” is the truth in what is left of the minds of the media and all the rest of those living with the mental myopia occasioned by living in D.C.
It is too bad the media has failed so miserably in this war. Had they focused on the war as anything other than haters of this administration, we the people would have been, and would still be much better served. Perhaps some of the mistakes that have been made might have been corrected earlier, the military wouldn’t have its worst fears about the media confirmed (thereby pushing the higher ups into the kind of stupidity that comes from closing ranks against quislings), Bush might have been pushed to fire those incompetents who have done, and are doing, his administration, and the country, no good, and we wouldn’t have had the unforgivable spectacle of the Congress of the United States giving aid and comfort to the enemy in the middle of a war. Whatever one may say against the Bush administration’s conduct of the war–and there is plenty to say–these people bear every bit as much responsibility for where we are today. Their failures are as great, and as damaging to the country.
May 8th, 2007 at 9:49 am
“Democratic theater” is a bit kind, Jules. Very descriptive, of course, but I prefer “Democratic hysteria”, which is less, ummmmmm, theatrical, but more to the point.
All of this makes me wonder how the media and the Dhimmicrats will handle the DTs during their forced withdrawal upon Bush leaving the White House in 2008. If they are pathetic now, how will they look then?
May 8th, 2007 at 10:13 am
“Bush sees himself in Lincoln’s mold more deeply than ever”
Like Lincoln, Bush left the occupation problem for his vice-president to deal with, ah, not so well.
But if you think about it, Bush has it even tougher than Lincoln, because Lincoln didn’t have to deal with so much incompetence from the commander-in-chief.
May 8th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Well said, Saltydog.
The problem may be that many other Americans are tuning him out.
The problem is that many other Americans have had a hard time even hearing what the man has to say over the wailing and gnashing of the Defeaticrats. His worst failing has been that he hasn’t tried harder to make himself heard and understood.
May 8th, 2007 at 11:32 am
His worst failing has been that he hasn’t tried harder to make himself heard and understood.
rotflmfao!!!!!
May 8th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
But if you think about it, Bush has it even tougher than Lincoln, because Lincoln didn’t have to deal with so much incompetence from the commander-in-chief.
Ahem……corndog, if you are trying to be ironic, it’s coming across poorly.
But if you aren’t being ironic…..Lincoln, being the president at the time, WAS the commander-in-chief.
May 8th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Jeffy,
You caught me. I’m trying to be ironic.
May 8th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Ya needs more practice, me bucko.