QUOTE OF THE DAY:
I want every one of you to know that your country is proud of you and that we appreciate your service -- just as we appreciate the sacrifices of your families. And I'm honored to bring the respect and good wishes of the Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. (Applause.)
Every member of our military can be certain that America will stay on the offensive in the war on terror. The President of the United States and his national security team understand the threat -- the enemy's changing tactics and its unchanging nature.
We are not dealing with adversaries that will ever surrender or come to their senses. We will be flexible. We'll do all we can to adapt to conditions on the ground. We'll make every change necessary to do the job. And I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat. (Applause.)
We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and then we want to return with honor.
PHOTO OF THE DAY:
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney waves to U.S. forces in Japan before his address aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, at Yokosuka Naval Base, home to the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet, in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007.
MARK NOONAN from BlogsforBush WRITES ANOTHER GEM:
PRESIDENT BUSH I S A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART - and I do think that historians will one day rate him in the top ten, perhaps even the top five, of US Presidents. A lot of ink and bandwidth is used up detailing what are called President Bush's mistakes - but a mistake, in my view, is taking the wrong action when the right action is very clear at the time the wrong action was taken. In this, the only mistakes I consider President Bush to have made are his signing of Campaign Finance Reform, and his decision to delay liberating Iraq until 2003.
In both of these mistakes, however, President Bush has the excuse of politics - it was good politics to get CFR off the table by signing it...fighting it would have just distracted from much more important and pressing issues, and - lets face it - hardly anyone thought that dog of a law would pass Constitutional muster at the Supreme Court. It was also good politics, at the time, to follow Prime Minister Blair's lead in trying to get the UN on board for the liberation of Iraq via the long-standing issue of Saddam's WMD programs - when world crisis impends, the patina of a united world moving against a perceived threat always looks good. As it turns out, we should have just gone and done it in August of 2002, even if we had to to it alone - all enemy forces (including the terrorist forces we fight today) were entirely unprepared, and we would have caught Saddam napping and likely found those WMD stockpiles (intelligence agencies make mistakes, but not of that magnitude - meaning that they don't say something is there when nothing is there. The WMDs were there, in early 2002 as the intelligence was being gathered, and the WMDs weren't there in early 2003 when we went in - but that allowed a whole year for Saddam, minions and enablers - France, Germany, Russia - to get the WMD stockpiles out of Iraq).
Outside of that, President Bush has done the right thing, at the right time, and in the right manner, as far as the information he had available at the time of decision allowed. This doesn't mean that everything has gone right - even the best laid plans go awry - but it does mean that President Bush has done the best job a President can do. More importantly, under the pressure of endless crisis and while dealing with relentless and slanderous attacks upon himself and his family, President Bush has maintained his aplomb - in good humor, generous and forgiving. A true Christian gentleman and patriot - and so far above his critics that they don't even understand how low they are in their criticisms.
We are now approaching the wind-down of the Bush Administration. A year from now we'll hardly hear from him or about him as we all concentrate mightily on the impending election of his successor. He won't mind this at all. He'll just keep doing the job he was elected to do - campaigning, no doubt, for whomever in the GOP wishes his help - but entirely unaffected by what people are saying about him. On January 20th, 2009, his successor will be sworn in - he'll be happier if its a GOPer as opposed to a Democrat, but no matter who it is he'll be quite gracious in transferring the most powerful office in the world...and then he'll go home, secure in the knowledge that he did what he thought was right...and he won't care what his critics say then, just as he doesn't care what they say now.
I'm glad we've had him as President, I'm happy that he's still President and thus able to finish the job in Iraq and, just perhaps, solve the Iranian problem before he leaves - and I'm suspecting that no matter who we elect in 2008, I'm going to miss having a President I can almost always rely upon to do the right thing, no matter how politically unpopular it is.
BUSH FRIENDS, LOYAL AND TEXAN, REMAIN A FORCE
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Published: February 21, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — Israel Hernandez was a fresh-faced college graduate from the Texas border town of Eagle Pass in the summer of 1993 when he landed a job in Dallas as the personal aide to the part-owner of the Texas Rangers George W. Bush.
Ignore the snarky reporter and focus on the "friends" -- GREAT STUFF!! http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/washington/21loyalists.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
In a few minutes, I will post video/photo goodies from the President's trip to Tennessee!