A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT BUSH (PHOTOS): 2.11.04

yahoo.com, whitehouse.gov ^ | February 11, 2004 | GretchenEE

[GretchenEE]

President Bush, at the Fort Lesley J. McNair National Defense University in Washington, announced new measures to counter the threat of weapons of mass destruction, for toughter international safeguards to keep nuclear arms technology from falling into the wrong hands.

He plans to attend the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Welcome to Sanity Island to enjoy today's Dose of W!

[ODC-GIRL]

Thanks for posting the link with the letter from the President's fellow pilot. I suggest to everyone that you read it. I read it earlier today and it is right on the mark.

Like I was saying last night. There are so many ways to get out of duty and get out early that are available to ANYONE, no special favors. I could just strangle the media for their utter stupidity/blatent lies.

[ThePythonicCow]

You may move it if you want to.

Thanks for hosting this, Diva. I've no desire to be moving it -- if you're happy having it on your web space, then that's fine by me.

[ohioWfan]

That 'congresscritter' is from Ohio, and he's a fool......

I'm writing him a letter tomorrow.

[gramho12]

I'm just about ready to turn off the TV, radio, and PC until after the election. The nonstop bashing of a truly decent human being and a fine leader are bad for my blood pressure and my stomach.

I have totally had it as well, even with Fox. Between the nonsensical over coverage of the primaries and Bush-bashing, I bet you don't even get real news. If it wasn't for the internet and talk radio I would be just as uninformed as the great unwashed.

You may have heard about the homicide bomber in Iraq today, and how many were killed. But did you hear that one of the Iraquis seriously injured said as soon as he was able he was going to go back and join the army because he was a proud Iraqi and wanted to serve and protect his country.

I could go on and on about all of the important news that happens but none of these media outlets discuss.

So, I vent on FR and am ordering my seeds and thinking Spring. And I'm also thinking that all of this will come back and bite the Dumbocrats in the behind. I'm looking forward toa big Bush victory so that I can sign up for the Demo Underground and give them a good virtual raspberry. It may be childish, but you have to speak their language.

God Bless President Bush.

[homemom]

***I haven't read it yet, but wouldn't surprise me if Dr Laura's latest book has the answer to that question: The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands.***

Mike, Mike, PCow, HighWheeler, other guys reading this, cover your ears . . . I mean eyes--I want to talk to the women only . . .

I guess it kind of does . . . to all the women out there, it is truly a wonderful book. Until I read it I didn't realize how vulnerable men are, how much they want to take care of us, how much they need our care and nurturing. One thing she says is that we CANNOT base our nice actions on his--we have to act first.

I've been doing some of the things the book suggests--I have not been a good wife lately. But I feel so good about what I'm doing for my husb, and it's not hard things to do, either. And YES, I am reaping the benefits, big time. Last night we were sitting on the couch and HE offered to give ME a backrub!!!

Also of much significance (I'll spare you the long and painful history of this) today he told his mom that he was DONE doing things for his dad, it was time to take care of his wife and family.

I know these positive changes are due a bunch to reading the book and applying the principles. It's a short, easy to read book, and worth it.

OK guys, you can open your eyes now . . .

[mrs tiggywinkle]

**Thanks for posting the link with the letter from the President's fellow pilot. I suggest to everyone that you read it. I read it earlier today and it is right on the mark. Like I was saying last night. There are so many ways to get out of duty and get out early that are available to ANYONE, no special favors. I could just strangle the media for their utter stupidity/blatent lies. **

I hope this gentleman's letter gets into the right hands w/in the media...perhaps Hannity or Rush. Excellent.

[ohioWfan]

lawgirl!!!! You're on the DOSE!!!!

Ah..........fond memories of the early days when you made it all SO much fun with your 'collateral benefits' talk! (they're still happening!)

Gee our President looks sWell!! ;o)

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Oh sure, no problem. Good info, BTW on Yahoo. That stuff is way over my head!

[mrs tiggywinkle]

Agree 100%.

[gramho12]

When my daughter got married, the pastor said something I will never forget, and something that brought my son-in-law's big old state trooper father (and the rest of us) to tears.

He said that after counselling numerous couples, he discovered this. Men: Love your wives, tell them you love them, because women have a need to know that they are loved. Women: appreciate what your husband does for you, since men need to feel appreciated. They demonstrate their commitment in what they do for you and they have a need to know that you appreciate their efforts.

My son-in-law to this day tells his wife he loves her.

Best encapsulated advice I ever heard.

[mamaduck]

WAAAAAAAit a minute there, I have never given any ring to a woman yet, and I'm not starting with one made from gooey wax.

Sorry to butt in here, but you think Brad's Gramma is made of gooey wax?????

[mamaduck]

We have been TV free for 17 years, barely listen to the radio (seem to turn it off right away, esp. if we hit the "news you need" on the half hour), quit the newspaper years ago (too harsh for the only use it would be good for), and, gee, we still know everything we need to know about what is going on in the world! Thanks to the internet, and esp. Free Republic. :-)

[hoosiermama]

Now I can clean my own gutters, mow my own yard, do a little plumbing and electric work, and have my own wood shop.....but would certainly appreciate someone to open a door or two and give a few compliments to the well prepared meal or lend an arm in escort out to dinner.

[mamaduck]

homemom (hi!) Too Cool. I learned this from a number of source (Dale Carnegie first, many years ago) and it works! If you understand your man's needs and the male character, and take care of him, wow! does it come back to you! I am a VERY happy wife. :-)

[mamaduck]

All preacher's should be so wise! 'night everyone!

[gramho12]

I, too, have stopped all papers (who needs liberal bias and ads) and I'm still more informed than most people I know. Some people still actually believe what the Washington Post and NY Slimes print.

And as far as TV news, even local, they are all copies of one another. They all take their cue from the same source - I sometimes laugh outloud at the stupidity of the broaodcasts, but then I realize how sorry it is that real news is not being distributed.

Nice checking in with you all at the Dose, but those dinner dishes are waiting for me. Night all!

[homemom]

***If you understand your man's needs and the male character, and take care of him, wow! does it come back to you! I am a VERY happy wife. :-)***

I bet you have a very happy husband, too! I am becoming a much happier wife, and I think my husband is becoming happier too.

Also, look at the example of our President and First Lady--I'm sure they take this advice to heart, too, and have for most of their years together. :-)

[DrDeb]

Thank you so much for posting the DOSE this evening -- the pixes of the President (whether from today or 30 years ago) are AWESOME as usual!!!!!


FYI: The Washington Times published both of my recommended readings for today! You can find one of the articles at the following thread [Actually, I think most of you have already visited this thread]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1075896/posts


The other article is as follows:

George W. Bush -- grand strategist
By Tony Blankley
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Boston Globe — the respected, liberal newspaper owned by the New York Times — ran an article last week that Bush critics may wish to read carefully. It is a report on a new book that argues that President Bush has developed and is ably implementing only the third American grand strategy in our history.

The author of this book, "Surprise, Security, and the American Experience" (Harvard Press) to be released in March, is John Lewis Gaddis, the Robert A. Lovett professor of military and naval history at Yale University. The Boston Globe describes Mr. Gaddis as "the dean of Cold War studies and one of the nation's most eminent diplomatic historians." In other words, this is not some put-up job by an obscure right-wing author. This comes from the pinnacle of the liberal Ivy League academic establishment.

If you hate George W. Bush, you will hate this Boston Globe story because it makes a strong case that Mr. Bush stands in a select category with presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and James Monroe (as guided by his secretary of state, John Q. Adams) in implementing one of only three grand strategies of American foreign policy in our two-century history.

As the Globe article describes in an interview with Mr. Gaddis: "Grand strategy is the blueprint from which policy follows. It envisions a country's mission, defines its interests, and sets its priorities. Part of grand strategy's grandeur lies in its durability: A single grand strategy can shape decades, even centuries of policy."

According to this analysis, the first grand strategy by Monroe/Adams followed the British invasion of Washington and the burning of the White House in 1814. They responded to that threat by developing a policy of gaining future security through territorial expansion — filling power vacuums with American pioneers before hostile powers could get in. That strategy lasted throughout the 19th and the early 20th centuries, and accounts for our continental size and historic security.

FDR's plans for the post-World War II period were the second grand strategy and gained American security by establishing free markets and self-determination in Europe as a safeguard against future European wars, while creating the United Nations and related agencies to help us manage the rest of the world and contain the Soviets. The end of the Cold War changed that and led, according to Mr. Gaddis, to President Clinton's assumption that a new grand strategy was not needed because globalization and democratization were inevitable. "Clinton said as much at one point. I think that was shallow. I think they were asleep at the switch," Mr. Gaddis observed.

That brings the professor to George W.Bush, who he describes as undergoing "one of the most surprising transformations of an underrated national leader since Prince Hal became Henry V." Clearly, Mr. Gaddis has not been a long-time admirer of Mr. Bush. But he is now.

He observes that Mr. Bush "undertook a decisive and courageous reassessment of American grand strategy following the shock of the 9/11 attacks. At his doctrine's center, Bush placed the democratization of the Middle East and the urgent need to prevent terrorists and rogue states from getting nuclear weapons. Bush also boldly rejected the constraints of an outmoded international system that was really nothing more that a snapshot of the configuration of power that existed in 1945."

It is worth noting that John Kerry and the other Democrats' central criticism of Mr. Bush — the prosaic argument that he should have taken no action without U.N. approval — is rejected by Mr. Gaddis as being a proposed policy that would be constrained by an "outmoded international system."

In assessing Mr. Bush's progress to date, the Boston Globe quotes Mr. Gaddis: "So far the military action in Iraq has produced a modest improvement in American and global economic conditions; an intensified dialogue within the Arab world about political reform; a withdrawal of American forces from Saudi Arabia; and an increasing nervousness on the part of the Syrian and Iranian governments as they contemplated the consequences of being surrounded by American clients or surrogates. The United States has emerged as a more powerful and purposeful actor within the international system than it had been on September 11, 2001."

In another recent article, written before the Iraqi war, Mr. Gaddis wrote: "[Bush's] grand strategy is actually looking toward the culmination of the Wilsonian project of a world safe for Democracy, even in the Middle East. And this long-term dimension of it, it seems to me, goes beyond what we've seen in the thinking of more recent administrations. It is more characteristic of the kind of thinking, say, that the Truman administration was doing at the beginning of the Cold War."

Is Mr. Bush becoming an historic world leader in the same category as FDR, as the eminent Ivy League professor argues? Or is he just a lying nitwit, as the eminent Democratic Party Chairman and Clinton fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe argues? I suspect that as this election year progresses, that may end up being the decisive debate. You can put me on the side of the professor.

Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. His column appears on Wednesdays. E-mail: tblankley@washingtontimes.com

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040210-082912-8099r.htm

[kitkat]

I've been TV free for 11 years, quit the local leftist newspaper years ago. I DO listen to radio: Rush, some music. I turn off the news unless it's local. I depend on FR to tell me if our president is going to be on TV. Then, I have to learn how to turn it on all over again. LOL!

[ODC-GIRL]

Yes, I agree. It needs to be given as much coverage as the original accusations.

Won't happen.....