Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the President

The New York Times ^ | April 1, 2007 | JIM RUTENBERG

[NRPM]

AUSTIN, Tex., March 29 — In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal.

A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.

Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.

In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.

[Yankee Dutch]

You are so wrong. He is conservative. He is a CHRISTIAN. I have never witnessed someone learn to turn his cheek to so many turncoats in my life, including President Reagan.

May God bless President Bush, he continues to accept people's faults, their disloyalty and their own path in life, because he understands the nature of free will. He has done this while running an extremely efficient administration with very little infighting, especially by Washington standards.

It's been a pretty tight ship overall. If Scooter Libby's ridiculous conviction is the best the pack of wild lawyers in DC can do, he will escape town unscathed from an administrative point of view.

Regarding Iraq, he talks about it at least once a week, and is forced to walk a very fine line between over-emphasizing the religious aspects of the battle and acting like he's encouraging another crusade.

I've glanced through some of your comments and it seems you've jumped on the MSM civil war band wagon. This is pretty tough to justify when the Iraqi government is not split in civil strife, and al Qaeda is actually behind the violence pitting them against one another at this point. Of course, these people have been fighting each other for hundreds of years. Given the extremists intention for a Caliphate, and the last century catipulting them to financial glory because oil is the world's most important commodity, I don't see what other choice President Bush had, and according to Osama bin Laden's book, 'Messages to the World' he agrees. Where exactly do you think these clowns we're headed once we'd chased them out of Afghanistan? We know they're in Pakistan. And Somalia. And nearly every other country on the planet. THEY want BAGHDAD. Democratization of the very same is our only hope.

Mark Steyn provides plenty of statistical analysis and support for our presence in Iraq in 'America Alone'. I recommend it to all.

[Enchante]

"A top strategist for the Texas Democrats"

i.e. Matthew Dowd was always a snivelling disloyal weasel.... the only question is not why he is bashing Pres. Bush now, but why the Bush WH ever trusted a Demagogue in the first place.

[Enchante]

"...the president’s refusal, around the same time that he was entertaining the bicyclist Lance Armstrong at his Crawford ranch, to meet with the war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq."

Good heavens, this guy is still a 'Rat propagandist at heart. No one with an ounce of common sense could think that Pres. Bush should have agreed to boost Cindy Sheehan's deranged propaganda campaign..... especially when Pres. Bush had ALREADY met with Cindy Sheehan.....

[NRPM]

Good point re hotsoup.com. I had never heard of it, but it clearly shows where Dowd's head is at.

And he founded it with Joe Lockhart among others? Good grief.

[Bommer]

We are at war. To criticize the President is Treason.

No its not.

To undermine him during war is treason, but Lincoln, Wilson. FDR, LBJ & Nixon were all critized during war time for their policys.

The real problem is that there is no longer a true standard for treason in Bush's world. Pinch Schulzberg and alot of Senators and Congressmen should have been tried and executed for what truly is treason for what they did to undermind this war. Bush I'm afraid is a wimp like his old man when it comes down to nailing the left. This "get along" crap is doing more damage to the country. Funny how Harry Truman can "give em Hell" but Bush can't even give em heck.

There critizism. Call the cops!

[HawaiianGecko]

The only candidate who appeals to him, he said, is Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, because of what Mr. Dowd called his message of unity

Oh for crying out loud!  Sounds like he has watched too many Mr. Rodgers episodes as a child, or is afflicted with the Rodney King disease.

That said, this guy was a shaper of the message and this will be damaging.  My problem is the rewriting of history this article indicates. Bush and his team was quiet during the Florida recounts.  It was liberals that began acting third world in front of cameras.  Bush's first couple of years were productive and it appeared to me that it was Howard Dean that started the vitriolic campaigning in 2003.

[roses of sharon]

Another Dem sniveler, what a bore.

Any real men left in the US?

Or are they all in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[roses of sharon]

LOL, it looks like another good troll bait thread!

[HardStarboard]

>>>If he was a plant, the Bush camp made another mistake in hiring him.<<<

The Bush administration had enough Clinton plants in it to start a nursery!! He should have weeded the garden on day one!!

[God luvs America]

I was in the gym and they had Face The Nation on...the volume was off but I was reading the transcription on the bottom....evidently Bob Sh!ffer was saying Dowd has admittedly had some personal/mental problems as of late....anyone know anything about this???

[Cicero]

Those last remarks of his in the news article sound to me like some sort of former hippy having an identity crisis. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a pretty mixed up guy. So, now he's going to straighten himself out by joining the Peace Corps or something.

Or you could say it sounds like somebody trying to do the right thing but lacking the religious sense or values to know what the right thing is.

[NYCVirago]

Wasn't Dowd the Bush campaign official who had an assistant who was sending debate material to the Kerry campaign in 2004? Am I remembering this correctly?

[Proudcongal]

failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus

This comment alone reveals Dowd is a fraud. Bush's biggest mistake has been reaching out to the anti-American crowd who hate him at the expense of their own country and look where it's got us.

and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq.

Huh? He's obviously talking about the terrorist faction.

He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq

Typical liberalspeak. Again, more concerned with terrorists than his own country. Good riddance.

[CDHart]

Any relation of Maureen Dowd?

Carolyn

[stevio]

Yes, I agree things are better with him there than would've been with the other two. And it's easier to see the faults rather than the successes. But I was hoping for more from him, mostly not giving in to the dems and losing this stupid amnesty proposal.

[ImpBill]

"I cannot begin to imagine the state of our great country if Gore or Kerry (UGH) were President. Thank God, George W Bush is our President. He is a good man and a patriot."

Agree wholeheartedly and think I stated I would support him again given the alternatives of Gore or Kerry.

And I have no problem with your statement that he is a good man and a patriot.

Without getting into a long winded response. I will just restate, "While GW wasn't what I really had hoped he would be, he certainly was better than either of those whom he opposed at the polling place."

Think we said the same thing, with the exception that he might have been all you hoped he would be. And that is fine as well.

Was just stating that I know the feeling expressed by Mr. Dowd, who did much more for the President that I did.

GW has disappointed me on a number of his stands or lack thereof, but in the main was the best man for the job at the time, especially when considering the alternatives.