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The Gergen TemptationWill Bush fall for the advice of the Establishment?
Weekly Standard ^ | 11/14/2005 | Fred Barnes

Posted on 11/05/2005 5:36:08 AM PST by AliVeritas

PRESIDENT BUSH DIDN'T TAKE THE HINT. Clean house, find fresh blood, replace senior White House staff--and this will assure success in the final three years of your presidency, Bush was told. When he didn't respond, those offering the president advice in public got specific. Get rid of Karl Rove, the key presidential adviser, and things will get better. Bush ignored that recommendation, too. Then Rove himself was addressed. Your peers in the White House are turning against you and debating whether you should be fired, the Washington Post informed him on the front page. Besides, you're not only hurting the president by staying, you're making it harder for the press secretary, Scott McClellan, to do his job. Rove, the symbol of Bush intransigence, stayed put.

There's a classic pattern here. It's Washington's way of taming a president, getting him to knuckle under. And it's always offered as if the Washington political establishment--a center-left conglomerate of officials of previous administrations, the permanent bureaucracy, lobbyists, consultants, old party hacks, and the media--had the president's best interests at heart.

The establishment is most influential when a president or other political leader is at a low point (as Bush surely is). In op-eds, news stories, speeches, and TV appearances, establishment figures outline a recovery plan. In Bush's case, it's this: Apologize publicly for your White House sins, especially the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame; soften your policies, particularly in Iraq; start cooperating with Democrats; and fire Rove. Do this and good times will roll again.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bush; bush43; demoperatives; elitists; fredbarnes; potomacfever; term2; whitehouse
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To: Past Your Eyes
watch the pentagon press guy.
he stand next to or in front of the podium and his body language is tight and assured. he act like he is ready to jump down the throats of these nasty dnc operatives and berates any one who is out of line or disrespectful. scott acts like he is scared and is the nerdy high school kid trying to be like by his enemies.
21 posted on 11/05/2005 6:06:43 AM PST by BurtTpa
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To: Condor51

Thank you for saying that--he seems far too timid and inept for the position he holds.


22 posted on 11/05/2005 6:07:09 AM PST by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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To: MNJohnnie

Just a thought, but wouldn't it be great if Ann Coulter could be talked into being the press secretary for even a year. What a message that would send!! Just the idea of that would send the WH press corps into apoplexy!!! She wouldn't even have to say anything.


23 posted on 11/05/2005 6:07:54 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
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To: Past Your Eyes
Wonder if LTG Russel L. Honore would take the job? We could make up the difference in his salary by selling the events as pay per view. I doubt a Freeper would miss one.
24 posted on 11/05/2005 6:09:04 AM PST by MNJohnnie (I'll try to be NICER, if you will try to be SMARTER!.......Water Buckets UP!)
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To: BurtTpa

Actually, I wish they could clone Rumsfield--we need at least two of him, one to hold his current position, and another for press secretary. Rumsfield knows how to handle the media!


25 posted on 11/05/2005 6:10:40 AM PST by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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To: AliVeritas
So Kristol and Barnes are noth urging the Bush WH to fight back.

That would at least distinguish his from his father's administration.

The only way to break throught the nedia filter is to go quite extreme, however, lest your battles be squelched by the monolithic Washington Press Corps. Bush needs a significantly more aggressive style.

26 posted on 11/05/2005 6:11:43 AM PST by ez (If you're the party of tolerance, then tolerate my intolerance.)
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To: BurtTpa
Here. here!! Let's have a female Press Secretary, and preferably one with an acid tongue.

I've met a few that could handle that job over the years!

27 posted on 11/05/2005 6:14:14 AM PST by ez (If you're the party of tolerance, then tolerate my intolerance.)
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To: MizSterious
there is a course I took on public speaking called POWERTALK. scott would have flunked the course.

his body language and speaking style are the pits .
he comes off as weak, inept , and a lost fool.
do you think a donald trump would keep such a fool around.
why does the president.

bush biggest flaw is his loyalty to his inept staff.
28 posted on 11/05/2005 6:17:02 AM PST by BurtTpa
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To: MNJohnnie

The problem is the definition of "conservative." For some reason, everyone thinks they are more conservative than anyone else--and what better way to point that out, than to criticize other conservatives?


29 posted on 11/05/2005 6:17:22 AM PST by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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To: ez

"Acid tongue?" Could you be speaking about Ann Coulter? Yessss, she could do the job, I do believe!


30 posted on 11/05/2005 6:19:14 AM PST by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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To: paudio
**He (McClellan) almost never provides a good response to any attack**

When he first replaced Ari, I thought it was nerves and over time he'd get better. But nope, those DNC shills in the WH press corp eat him up every day.

Its embarrassing to watch him. Last week I though he was going to cry. He was whining and whining about the "trust he built" with the WH 'journalists'.

31 posted on 11/05/2005 6:19:15 AM PST by Condor51 (Leftists are moral and intellectual parasites - Standing Wolf)
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To: Condor51
He was whining and whining about the "trust he built" with the WH 'journalists'.

LOL... he might be a smart person, but not necessarily good in staying on the massage and creating sound-bites at the same time. Ari was the master on this.

32 posted on 11/05/2005 6:22:22 AM PST by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
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To: BurtTpa

I would rather clean bathrooms than speak publicly, but I can still tell the difference between an effective speaker and an inept one--McLellan seems quite inept to me. He looks almost as uncomfortable as I would be if I had to stand there behind that podium. We really need better.


33 posted on 11/05/2005 6:23:34 AM PST by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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To: MizSterious
"Acid tongue?" Could you be speaking about Ann Coulter? Yessss, she could do the job, I do believe!

I'd hire her in a heartbeat, if only to make sure she was on my side!

34 posted on 11/05/2005 6:26:28 AM PST by ez (If you're the party of tolerance, then tolerate my intolerance.)
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To: Past Your Eyes

"David Rodham Gergen. I wish he'd hack up that big booger that's hanging down the back of his throat and get it over with."


That would be a "loogie", a booger wouold be found in a different orifice.


35 posted on 11/05/2005 6:27:21 AM PST by David Isaac
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To: popdonnelly

People that claim to be unbiased have a way of gaining trust and confidentiality of both sides. Then, I think they sell out one side because they really always have had a loyalty, whether they acknowledge it or not. In my life, I have had occasions to trust and confide in people who are networkers (busybodies) and after the dust settles, I have been left wondering if what I said was used against me. I am too old to learn this lesson but then at least I think I have learned the lesson. Gergen is a democrat and media prostitute and needs to be left alone.


36 posted on 11/05/2005 6:27:59 AM PST by outinyellowdogcountry
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To: Congressman Billybob

37 posted on 11/05/2005 6:28:43 AM PST by Zacs Mom (Proud wife of a Marine! ... and purveyor of "rampant, unedited dialogue")
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To: MizSterious

Okay, we all seem to be in agreement on this. Now, who has the president's ear and can convince him to make this most important change. The opportunity to send a strong message is overwhelming.


38 posted on 11/05/2005 6:28:52 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
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To: David Isaac
"That would be a "loogie", a booger wouold be found in a different orifice."

ROFL!! A distinction without a difference. When you snuff a booger from your nose to the back of your throat does it then become a "loogie"?

39 posted on 11/05/2005 6:31:24 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
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To: BurtTpa
**the wh need the current or former ( female) pentagon press rep***

DITTO that.

She was Victoria Clarke - she took no BS from those idiots

(I thought her toughness was rather sexy)

40 posted on 11/05/2005 6:31:48 AM PST by Condor51 (Leftists are moral and intellectual parasites - Standing Wolf)
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