Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

1 posted on 11/05/2005 5:36:08 AM PST by AliVeritas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas

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.


2 posted on 11/05/2005 5:41:02 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas

Fred is absolutely correct in this! Hope the White House listens


3 posted on 11/05/2005 5:41:54 AM PST by t2buckeye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas
***you're (Bush) making it harder for the press secretary, Scott McClellan, to do his job.***

Just my useless opinion, but I say fire McClellan (just on principle) - he's a blubbering, bumbling fool and borderline moron. Probably the worst Press Secretary in history. And whomever recommended him for the job is undoubtedly on the DNC payroll.

4 posted on 11/05/2005 5:46:20 AM PST by Condor51 (Leftists are moral and intellectual parasites - Standing Wolf)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Condor51

"And whomever recommended him for the job is undoubtedly on the DNC payroll."

hmmmm. Down here in Texas we have our doubts about his Mom (Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn).


5 posted on 11/05/2005 5:48:03 AM PST by WOSG (http://freedomstruth.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas

I read similar pledge in US News, where Gergen serves as editor at large. I switched from Time to US News because I didn't want to give money to a magazine that is too much liberal. For a while, US News as okay. Now, I cancel my subscription. Internet provides enough good news and articles.


6 posted on 11/05/2005 5:48:13 AM PST by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas
It is usually a real bad idea to accept and follow advice given by your political enemies. However, here is an exception to that rule:

The Democrat Party would vastly improve its chances for the long term if it lanced and drained a fat, pus-filled boil on its body politic, a boil named Clinton (him and her). It is clear the Party will not follow this advice. But it would be good for that Party and for the nation, if it did so.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Democrat Official Outed as 'Sleaze' Source on Mayor O'Malley; Washington Post Ignored Story it Had (Updated)"

7 posted on 11/05/2005 5:50:01 AM PST by Congressman Billybob (Do you think Fitzpatrick resembled Captain Queeg, coming apart on the witness stand?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Condor51

Ah yes. If there's a truth in Gergen's suggestion, it's time for McClellan to go. He almost never provides a good response to any attack. Bush is weak when it comes to firing somebody from TX, no matter how bad the appointee is. Perhaps there should be another pressure from conservatives against an unqualified appointee.


8 posted on 11/05/2005 5:50:54 AM PST by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: paudio

We have subscribed to US News for years. I have told my wife for most of those years to please not renew it when it runs out. So far, I have been unsuccessful.
This most recent issue really made me want to puke.


9 posted on 11/05/2005 5:53:51 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Condor51

I must say that I agree with you on McClellan. He is a clone of that slime Clinton had doing the same job, McWhatisname. He sounds exactly like Clinton's man.


10 posted on 11/05/2005 5:55:28 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: WOSG

Isn't she the one that's running against Perry? Also, is Scott's brother in the administration ?


11 posted on 11/05/2005 5:55:41 AM PST by DLfromthedesert (Texas Cowboy...you da man!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Past Your Eyes

Yes. It was the recent issue that triggered me to cancel.


12 posted on 11/05/2005 5:55:45 AM PST by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Condor51
you nailed it.
scott is a spineless idiot who allows the wh press act like a bunch of snotty high school big shots .
they openly mock him and ridicule him in the press meetings.

the wh need the current or former ( female) pentagon press rep . they were tough and shot back when fired upon by the press. they treat these DNC operatives as the enemy
they are.
13 posted on 11/05/2005 5:58:27 AM PST by BurtTpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas
Never surrender! Damn the torpeodos, full speed ahead!



14 posted on 11/05/2005 5:59:09 AM PST by G.Mason
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: paudio

Well, if they're like some other magazines, the thing will still keep on coming anyway. We sent a change of address to one magazine and now we get two every month: one to the old address and one to the new. (We didn't move; the town finally got around to doing the E911 numbering.)


15 posted on 11/05/2005 5:59:21 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: BurtTpa

How refreshing it would be if someone with the nads of a Rumsfeld or Franks would be out front. That pack of hyenas would soon be running for the tall grass.


16 posted on 11/05/2005 6:01:15 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas
Rove, I'm told, got teary-eyed when talking about how Bush and White House staffers have stood by him.

I'v often wondered what Rove's advice is about illegal immigration and the border.

17 posted on 11/05/2005 6:01:48 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Condor51

McClellan always seems very hesitant and defensive. It could be helen makes him queasy, that's understandable. But the press smells the blood when he stands behind the podium. And they attack every time. If he would just slap one or two down, he would soon find himself enjoying his role.


18 posted on 11/05/2005 6:03:08 AM PST by small voice in the wilderness (u)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas

Gergen works for the Democrats. The notion that he is non-partisan is pure eyewash.


19 posted on 11/05/2005 6:04:06 AM PST by popdonnelly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: paudio; Condor51
Perhaps there should be another pressure from conservatives against an unqualified appointee.

Maybe "Conservatives" should break themselves of this childish habit of spending all their time firing on their own side and learn to actually stand up for things.

Maybe, the Whine all the Time Choir might, just once, learn to stand of for things instead of their usual bitching about everything. "Conservatives" have this really bad habit of falling into the psuedo-intellectual's trap of thinking being 100% rabidly critical makes them look "intelligent". It doesn't.

Being a knee jerk critic is NOT a sign of a thinker, quite the opposed in fact.

20 posted on 11/05/2005 6:04:42 AM PST by MNJohnnie (I'll try to be NICER, if you will try to be SMARTER!.......Water Buckets UP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson