Bush tells biographer: 'I do tears'

Charlotte Observer ^ | Sep. 04, 2007 | By CALVIN WOODWARD

[COUNTrecount]

WASHINGTON --Under that famously self-confident exterior is a president who weeps - a lot.

President Bush told the author of a new book on his presidency that "I try not to wear my worries on my sleeve" or show anything less than steadfastness in public, especially in a time of war.

"I fully understand that the enemy watches me, the Iraqis are watching me, the troops watch me, and the people watch me," he said. Yet, he said, "I do tears."

"I've got God's shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job. I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count, as president. I'll shed some tomorrow."

Bush granted journalist Robert Draper several extended interviews in late 2006 and early 2007, as well as unusual access to his aides, for the book "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush," which went on sale Tuesday.

Draper's account of the bulk of Bush's presidency sheds light on a loyal and secretive inner circle that, at least privately, was not always on the same page. Draper tells of an April 2006 dinner at which Bush asked aides for a show of hands on whether his divisive defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, should be fired.

The vote: 7-4 to get rid of him, with Bush siding with those who wanted him kept on for the time being. Rumsfeld was replaced after the elections that fall switched control of the House and Senate to Democrats.

White House aides who wanted Rumsfeld out were privately dismayed when retired generals called publicly for his ouster, fearing that would steel Bush's resolve to keep his defense chief, the book says.

Bush, without addressing that meeting, suggested to the author that the ex-generals did get under his skin.

"My reaction was, 'No military guy is gonna tell a civilian how to react,'" he said.

Also in the book, Bush:

-Acknowledged that sectarian violence after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein was "something we didn't spend a lot of time planning for. We planned for what happens if Saddam and his people dug into Baghdad," and we figured the Iraqi leader was fomenting ethnic divisions that would ease when he was gone. The opposite happened.

-Said he wants to make money - "replenishing the ol' coffers" - after his presidency. He said he could make "ridiculous" money on the lecture circuit, citing the experience of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, as well as his own father.

-Recalled his drinking days and how faith gave him the discipline to stop.

"I wouldn't be president if I kept drinking. You get sloppy, can't make decisions, it clouds your reason, absolutely. I still remember the feeling of a hangover, even though I haven't had a drink in twenty years." He said he ate chocolate in the evenings after he swore off booze, because his body missed the sugar.

-Told of a false alarm the night of Sept. 11, 2001, when he and his wife, Laura, were in bed in the White House after the day's traumatic events and a Secret Service agent came to the bedroom and told them to get to the bunker. "They're coming," the agent said. "We're under attack." The couple hurried to the bunker, the president carrying a dog under one arm and a cat under the other, with his wife slipping on a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, feeling blind without her contact lenses. The source of the alarm - a plane in closed airspace over the Potomac River - turned out to be an authorized flight.

Draper, a national correspondent for GQ magazine, is a former editor at Texas Monthly, where he profiled Bush when he was Texas governor.

[COUNTrecount]

A tear runs down President Bush's cheek as he takes part in a Medal of Honor Ceremony for Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham of Scio, N.Y., Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Bush granted journalist Robert Draper several extended interviews in late 2006 and early 2007, as well as unusual access to his aides, for the book "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush," which went on sale Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007. In the book Bush is quoted as saying, "I've got God's shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job. I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count, as president. I'll shed some tomorrow."

[massgopguy]

There is no crying in Base Ball.

[stevio]

I cry when I think of what he’s doing to our country as opposed to what he said he was going to do.

[Piranha]

So do those of us who voted for him.

[fishtank]

I’ve been looking for that quote where he says that 9-11 was caused by some misguided youths.......

[Uncle Miltie]

Argentina

Mexico

[Berlin_Freeper]

No doubt the most vilified and misrepresented man in modern history. Even to the point that he has to assure the public that he is human and feels sorrow. No surprise, they will bash him on this too.

[Huck]

Acknowledged that sectarian violence after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein was "something we didn't spend a lot of time planning for. We planned for what happens if Saddam and his people dug into Baghdad," and we figured the Iraqi leader was fomenting ethnic divisions that would ease when he was gone. The opposite happened.

This is negligence if true.

[tumblindice]

And if you ever feel a little lonely, dear,
I want you to come on, come on to your mama now,
And if you ever want a little love of a woman
Come on and baby baby baby babe babe baby now
Cry baby yeah.

[Shryke]

This is negligence if true.

Yes, because our military should know how to predict the future in a war situation.

[Shryke]

I couldn’t agree more. Look at the posts in this very thread. Ten bucks says the complainers here helped elect Clinton, too.

[American_Centurion]

No it isn’t.

They had a window of opportunity, they calculated likely, probable, and worst courses of enemy action. They planned on what they could, and started getting the job done.

I know for a fact this is what was done, and what happened was enemy course of action number X. They didn’t spend a lot of time planning for it, because it was deemed to be extremely unlikely. Maybe the intelligence agencies flubbed it, I suspect that information was given to Saddam by the Ruskies that caused him to go for the most unlikely. The flippin ruskies probably got their info from the Rats.

[uncbob]

He brings a lot of it on himself

Taking blame for Katrina instead of sending out his spokes people to condemn the corrupt Governor and mayor

Trusting kennedy and daschle

Hell posters on this site could have told himwhat was going to happen

Swifities had to save his election in2004

[FFranco]

This wasn't the fault of not only our military, but the CIA and other spy agencies too. The fact is we didn't have enough intelligence about Iraq to know what was going on and what was likely to happen after we invaded. It wasn't negligence by President Bush, he is blameless. It was negligence by our military and civilain intelligence agencies.

[from occupied ga]

Once you’ve got sincerity faked you’re golden in politics

[Dante3]

Ditto. He prefers Mexico to this country.

[Shryke]

I am sorry, but I disagree. War is by nature very unpredictable, as are foreign cultures. The war had to be fought IMHO, and the aftermath dealt with. What happened after wasn't what we expected, and we are adjusting to it as best we can.

We are learning priceless lessons for future fights.

[meandog]

Draper's account of the bulk of Bush's presidency sheds light on a loyal and secretive inner circle that, at least privately, was not always on the same page. Draper tells of an April 2006 dinner at which Bush asked aides for a show of hands on whether his divisive defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, should be fired.
The vote: 7-4 to get rid of him, with Bush siding with those who wanted him kept on for the time being. Rumsfeld was replaced after the elections that fall switched control of the House and Senate to Democrats.

Well, Mr. President, if you had listened to those seven instead of the three and your misplaced loyalty, you would have been doing a lot less crying today as the surge that is working would have been implemented earlier and, by now, you would be looking toward a well-deserved legacy of achievement and victory in Iraq.

[meandog]

He brings a lot of it on himself...Trusting kennedy and daschle
...and Wolfowitz, Perle and Rumsfeld

[af_vet_rr]

I'd cry too if I had the same views as Bush on legalizing the criminal illegal aliens, and leaving our borders open in a time of war, plus leaving office with a bigger, more powerful and expensive government, than when he entered.