Posted on 07/06/2006 8:33:28 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Bush: I'd rather be right than popular
President, wife sit down for wide-ranging birthday interview
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush isn't troubled by some of the weakest approval ratings of his presidency, he said Thursday in a wide-ranging birthday interview with CNN's "Larry King Live."
"When history looks back, I'd rather be judged as solving problems and being correct, rather than being popular," Bush said.
"The president that chases the opinion poll is the president that will have failed policy," Bush said in an exclusive joint interview along with his wife, Laura, at the White House.
Some members of Congress are nervous about the effect Bush's political problems might have on their own fortunes in this fall's midterm elections.
But Bush predicted that Republicans would keep their majorities in the House and Senate, "Because we're right on winning this war on terror, and we've got a good economic record," he said. "People are working under the leadership of the Bush administration and the Congress."
When it comes to the most controversial single decision of his presidency -- invading Iraq -- the president told King he would make the same choice again, even knowing that Saddam Hussein's regime did not have weapons of mass destruction.
"We removed a tyrant," Bush said. "He was an enemy of the United States who harbored terrorists and who had the capacity, at the very minimum, to make weapons of mass destruction. And he was a true threat."
The president also said he believes recent missile tests by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could present an opening to rally international pressure on the Pyongyang regime.
"I think he wants us to either fear him or pay attention to him. And I view it as an opportunity ...
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
I love our President. He's the best. Happy 60th!
FGS, take that to another thread. There certainly are enough of them.
And that's exactly why I love him.
You don't get it do you? Like him or hate him he has his own set of principles that he follows. He is following those principles on immigration. In fact he is one of the very few that is actually holding to his principles on that issue.
AMEN, FRiend, AMEN!
When President Bush finally leaves office, I will be thinking about this.
On CSPAN I listened to a presentation on the Founding Fathers.
During the creation of our nation, They were worried that if they elected George Washington as President, and failed to form a new Union, that George W. would be embarrased, having to step down from the PRESIDENT to an everyday citizen.
One of the founding fathers stated this (paraphrased):
You don't understand. The President is the servant of the people, the servant of the nation. When he leaves office, he is stepping back up to a normal citizen.
President Bush treats the office of President this way. It is his task, it is his responsibility, and he must always consider the good of the nation, the good of the people.
FDR was a traitor and domestic enemy of the Constitution.
Nobody gives a damn what you think either!
If FoxNews did a "Daily Show" bit, they would put up a picture of Clinton when W says this.
Hey Howlin, how have you been? :-)
Exactly!
I don't have to see eye-to-eye with him on immigration or any other issue to admire and appreciate his outlook and approach to The Big Picture. That I still can see his greatness is the mark of a true LEADER.
Pity he didn't have that attitude earlier.
I believe individual freedom to participate in elections should be expanded, not diminished; and when individual freedoms are restricted, questions arise under the First Amendment. I also have reservations about the constitutionality of the broad ban on issue advertising, which restrains the speech of a wide variety of groups on issues of public import in the months closest to an election. I expect that the courts will resolve these legitimate legal questions as appropriate under the law. -GEORGE W. BUSH THE WHITE HOUSE, March 27, 2002.
Clear-spoken as usual, Mr. President. Congratulations on laying down the winning value proposition for reelecting a Republican Congress.
It cones down to this: Clinton wanted to be a rock star and Bush wanted to be a statesman. Take your pick!
Nobody's perfect!
Too bad Bush is neither right nor popular. He ought to take his own hand and slap himself with it for calling on Congress to pass an immigration bill that will grant amnesty to illegals and quintuple legal immigration levels.
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