Posted on 02/07/2004 2:29:28 PM PST by evad
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — With his poll numbers slipping and Democrats attacking him and his credibility over the failure so far to find any banned weapons in Iraq, President Bush has decided to strike back. He will throw his first punch in the rough and tumble of a ring familiar to all candidates for high office: a Sunday morning news show.
(Excerpt) Read more at aolsvc.news.aol.com ...
I guess the NY Times forgot about the long-range missile...?
Long time FReeper that doesn't do a lot of posting;-)
Do I still have to excerpt the article?
And yes, I now realize that the AOL link won't work.
Thank you for posting an unnecessarily excerpted article. Especially since the article requires registration for those of us who are (thankfully) AOHELLless.
The burden of proof re: WMD's was upon Iraq. The terms of GWI surrender were clearly stated.
Also, Saddam's support for terrorism is beyond debate - he bragged about his payoffs to the families of Palistinian homocide bombers.
Hey thanks..I'll do better next time.
As a matter of fact, I'll fix it now.
Here's the article, straight from the NY Times.Some of us have cojones and are not afraid to post the entire article.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — With his poll numbers slipping and Democrats attacking him and his credibility over the failure so far to find any banned weapons in Iraq, President Bush has decided to strike back. He will throw his first punch in the rough and tumble of a ring familiar to all candidates for high office: a Sunday morning news show.White House officials said the president had chosen to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to make a case that he has done well in handling the challenges of terrorism and a weak economy, and to bring the political debate back to the ground he wants to fight on.
"The president's very eager to go out and talk about his policies, the actions he's taken and why it's making the nation more secure," said Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director. "He's more than comfortable talking about those decisions and he believes the country wants to hear from the president about these issues."
But Republicans allied with Mr. Bush's re-election campaign said there was a heavy dose of politics behind the decision as well. As he faces intensifying pressure on weapons in Iraq, they said, it is more urgent that Mr. Bush go on the offensive. After saying for months that he was too busy dealing with the nation's business to descend into the partisan wars, Mr. Bush and his top advisers have concluded that the risk of remaining on the defensive outweighed the risk of dropping the pose that he was above politics and appearing on television in candidate mode, Republicans said.
Mr. Bartlett said Mr. Bush told him on Tuesday that he wanted to appear on "Meet the Press." Republican officials said Mr. Bush was eager to send a message that he is not afraid to take tough questions from the moderator, Tim Russert.
"He's been chomping at the bit for a while to get into the fray," said Charlie Black, a veteran Republican strategist who has close ties to the White House. "There's no better place to show you can answer the criticisms and put them behind you than on Russert."
Mr. Bartlett played down any suggestion that Mr. Russert presented Mr. Bush with a critical test. He said the president had requested some briefing material and had run over some likely questions with his senior staff on Friday afternoon, but otherwise was not engaging in any intensive preparations for the interview, which is to be taped at the White House on Saturday.
Mr. Bush's appearance will come after weeks of developments that, in the view of some Republicans, undermined the president's political strength and demanded an assertive effort by the White House to get back on track as the campaign heats up.
Mr. Bush's proposal for a return to the moon and a manned mission to Mars fell flat, they said. He got no bounce in the polls from his State of the Union address. He came under unusual criticism from economic conservatives in his own party over continued big increases in government spending and the rise in the budget deficit. Faced with a storm over the use of prewar intelligence about Iraq's weapons, Mr. Bush appointed a commission on Friday to study the issue, taking some of the gloss off the commander-in-chief persona that his political team had hoped to make central to his campaign.
At the same time, the Democrats began to coalesce around their front-runner, Senator John Kerry, allowing them to focus increasingly on attacking Mr. Bush rather than each other. With Mr. Kerry's emergence as the front-runner came another problem for the administration: the comparison, highlighted by Democrats, between Mr. Kerry's record as a Vietnam war hero and the questions about whether Mr. Bush fulfilled all his duties as a National Guard pilot in the same period.
"We always knew that as the Democratic race reached a peak it would focus coverage on the criticisms of the president," Mr. Black said. "At the same time, several other issues put the president on the defensive. It would have been smart strategy to go back on the offensive once the Democratic nominee emerged, but with these other things happening, the sooner the better."
Republicans involved with the Bush-Cheney campaign said the appearance on "Meet the Press" marked the start of a more aggressive phase of the campaign. The campaign's strategists are making final decisions on the shape and timing of an advertising campaign that will probably go on the air within weeks, Republican officials said.
Campaign officials said Mr. Bush's appearance on "Meet the Press" was not a sign of panic or of any change in basic strategy.
"We're 269 days from the election, and that's several political lifetimes," said Terry Holt, the Bush campaign's spokesman. "If you've heard anything from the Bush campaign over the past 10 months, it's been that we expect a close race, and that's still operative."
White House officials said the president had chosen to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to make a case that he has done well in handling the challenges of terrorism and a weak economy, and to bring the political debate back to the ground he wants to fight on.
"The president's very eager to go out and talk about his policies, the actions he's taken and why it's making the nation more secure," said Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director. "He's more than comfortable talking about those decisions and he believes the country wants to hear from the president about these issues."
But Republicans allied with Mr. Bush's re-election campaign said there was a heavy dose of politics behind the decision as well. As he faces intensifying pressure on weapons in Iraq, they said, it is more urgent that Mr. Bush go on the offensive. After saying for months that he was too busy dealing with the nation's business to descend into the partisan wars, Mr. Bush and his top advisers have concluded that the risk of remaining on the defensive outweighed the risk of dropping the pose that he was above politics and appearing on television in candidate mode, Republicans said.
Mr. Bartlett said Mr. Bush told him on Tuesday that he wanted to appear on "Meet the Press." Republican officials said Mr. Bush was eager to send a message that he is not afraid to take tough questions from the moderator, Tim Russert.
"He's been chomping at the bit for a while to get into the fray," said Charlie Black, a veteran Republican strategist who has close ties to the White House. "There's no better place to show you can answer the criticisms and put them behind you than on Russert."
Mr. Bartlett played down any suggestion that Mr. Russert presented Mr. Bush with a critical test. He said the president had requested some briefing material and had run over some likely questions with his senior staff on Friday afternoon, but otherwise was not engaging in any intensive preparations for the interview, which is to be taped at the White House on Saturday.
"He's been chomping at the bit for a while to get into the fray." -Charlie Black, Republican Strategist
Mr. Bush's appearance will come after weeks of developments that, in the view of some Republicans, undermined the president's political strength and demanded an assertive effort by the White House to get back on track as the campaign heats up.
Mr. Bush's proposal for a return to the moon and a manned mission to Mars fell flat, they said. He got no bounce in the polls from his State of the Union address. He came under unusual criticism from economic conservatives in his own party over continued big increases in government spending and the rise in the budget deficit. Faced with a storm over the use of prewar intelligence about Iraq's weapons, Mr. Bush appointed a commission on Friday to study the issue, taking some of the gloss off the commander-in-chief persona that his political team had hoped to make central to his campaign.
At the same time, the Democrats began to coalesce around their front-runner, Senator John Kerry, allowing them to focus increasingly on attacking Mr. Bush rather than each other. With Mr. Kerry's emergence as the front-runner came another problem for the administration: the comparison, highlighted by Democrats, between Mr. Kerry's record as a Vietnam war hero and the questions about whether Mr. Bush fulfilled all his duties as a National Guard pilot in the same period.
"We always knew that as the Democratic race reached a peak it would focus coverage on the criticisms of the president," Mr. Black said. "At the same time, several other issues put the president on the defensive. It would have been smart strategy to go back on the offensive once the Democratic nominee emerged, but with these other things happening, the sooner the better."
Republicans involved with the Bush-Cheney campaign said the appearance on "Meet the Press" marked the start of a more aggressive phase of the campaign. The campaign's strategists are making final decisions on the shape and timing of an advertising campaign that will probably go on the air within weeks, Republican officials said.
Campaign officials said Mr. Bush's appearance on "Meet the Press" was not a sign of panic or of any change in basic strategy.
"We're 269 days from the election, and that's several political lifetimes," said Terry Holt, the Bush campaign's spokesman. "If you've heard anything from the Bush campaign over the past 10 months, it's been that we expect a close race, and that's still operative."
February 7, 2004 Copyright © 2004 The New York Times Company.
"By reputation, the President was a very avid and skillful poker player when he was an MBA student. One of the secrets of a successful poker player is to encourage your opponent to bet a lot of chips on a losing hand. This is a pattern of behavior one sees repeatedly in George W. Bush’s political career. He is not one to loudly proclaim his strengths at the beginning of a campaign. Instead, he bides his time, does not respond forcefully, a least at first, to critiques from his enemies, no matter how loud and annoying they get. If anything, this apparent passivity only goads them into making their case more emphatically."
Well apparently, The White House decided to play some cards.
Good Luck, George.
Some of us think with our cajones instead of being courteous.
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