Posted on 05/09/2007 5:55:32 PM PDT by kellynla
TIM RUSSERT, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS: Brian, all eyes on the Republican party. How long will they support the president's position on the Iraq War? Yesterday may have been a defining, pivotal moment.
At two-thirty in the afternoon, in the private quarters of the White House, the Solarium Room, eleven Republican congressmen had a private meeting with the president, the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the chief political advisor Karl Rove, and the White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, and others.
This delegation was headed by Mark Kirk of Illinois and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. It was, in the words of one of the participants, the most unvarnished conversation they've ever had with the president.
Another member has said he has met with three presidents and never been so candid. They told the president, and one said, quote, "My district is prepared for defeat. We need candor, we need honesty, Mr. President."
The president responded, "I don't want to pass this off to another president. I don't want to pass this off, particularly, to a democratic president," underscoring he understood how serious the situation was.
Brian, the Republican congressmen went on to say, "The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There's no longer any credibility. It has to come from General Petraeus.
The meeting lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and was, in the words of one, " remarkable for the bluntness, and no holds barred honesty and the message delivered by all these Republican congressmen.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And Tim...how did the president react and how did this then affect the instructions for VP Cheney heading off to Iraq?
RUSSERT: One congressman said, "How can our daughters and sons spill their blood while the Iraqi parliament goes on vacation? The president responded, "The Vice President is over there to tell them, 'Do not go on vacation.'"
Developing...
Is Boehner retiring from Congress?
The nutless 11.
Why?
I am uninformed voter, here me roar.
There were post election polls in districts that turned Dem.
Most of the numbers showed that it was not Iraq. Dem numbers did not really climb from the last off president election year. Republican number declined.
Meaning that it was not swing voters. Republican base members stayed home because they had, according to many of the polls, a view that Republicans had become corrupt and were spending too much money.
Two things pushed this.
A. A solid message between dems and media to accuse republican corruption.
B. A lack of education of the voters, making it easy to push the overspending line towards republicans.
Democrats actually wanted to spend 40 percent more. Republicans stripped that from the budget.
Most of the spending was part of the mandatory spending. THAT CAN’T BE CHANGED BY THE CONGRESS CRITTERS. Takes a miracle of a vote! Dems knew what they were doing when they slowly snuck in mandatory spending rules over a number of years.
Boehner.
No shock there. His title as “Comfortable Caucus” is for real. People on the Hill still call him that. He hates Delay for that. Delay gave him the nickname.
Face, folks in Ohio have been duped by Boehner for years.
He is not a fighter for conservatives. But then again, most of the folks in Ohio, like NY, don’t really know what being conservative means.
A U.S. Congressman wishes to lecture people about going on vacation> LOL!
Bush should have said "So what. You people don't do anything and yet you go on vacation. These people have a war going on in their country and they probably need a vacation more than you do. Now get the hell out of my office and don't come back unless you have something meaningful to contribute."
Don’t take that weak approach and pin this on the President.
IT WAS CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS WHO DID THIS TODAY.
I am amazed at how many folks here will try to pin things on the President...when it is the back stabbing, turncoat, rino actions performed by the Congressional Republicans that is listed in the story!
As long as 3 or 4 Americans are knocked off daily and there are car bombs blowing up dozens of civilians daily, I find it hard for an President, no matter how good an orator he is, to make a good arguement...
You said, about what Bush should say to those guys — “Now get the hell out of my office and don’t come back unless you have something meaningful to contribute.”
—
And so, this is how Bush got to the White House, huh? Telling all those people he doesn’t agree with to “get the hell out of my office”.... ummm..., yeah, that should do it...
Why bother ...Murtha and the Media are already calling General Petraeus a liar
What can General Petraeus do that the President hasn't already done a thousand times
It comes down to this ... either we want to win this damn war or we don't
Gee, don't go whining to the POTUS with such a request, by golly there are plenty of outlets in the MSM that can cater to you.
Doubt it. Wish he would.
Look, the guy has the job he wants. He threw Delay under the bus and did a lobby job with members to get him out of the Majority Leader position. Most members knew ‘06 was lost at that point. Because Boehner sucks as a message guy and a leader. He can’t hold ranks together to save his life. Hence the 11 rinos (him included) who went to stab W in the back today in a “Secret Meeting”...which they leaked to the press. Keep in mind, Boehner blew it in ‘06. When Delay left the Leadership, many Republicans started writing off ‘06. Staffers were told in Jan of ‘06 that there was a strong possibility of going to the minority. How sad is that. No fight at all. Had they taken a different attitude, Republicans would likely still be in the majority.
Every time something was thrown at them, they ran and hid. Just as the Dems wanted. So the only message out there was the Dem message.
Much of it should be pinned on Denny and Boehner.
Remember, Delay and Boehner have long been enemies. Goes back to when Boehner took on Newt.
A lot of crap went down. Armey and Delay said they were sorry. Boehner was arrogant. Newt knocked Boehner out a climb up the ladder...and it set Armey, Delay, JC and Denny up for a mad run. When JC moved on...Boehner started hitting open slots, and now he is back.
Most members have mentioned that they wanted to vote for Pence for Republican leader. But when Barton jumped in and then jumped out of that caucus race...it weakened if for Pence. Which is what the intent was.
SOOOO, They all voted for Boehner...because they had a feeling Pence would not bounce back before the final caucus vote. And Boehner had sent word...committee appointments would be affected.
Don’t care what Xray machine you are using...at that point...you won’t find any spine in the caucus. So Boehner won. And just like the horrible job he did in the crucial time of ‘06...he is doing it now. He has the worst track record has far as keeping caucus votes together.
But for some reason, some are afraid. Mainly because many of the remaining Republicans were not in the minority the last time. Boehner was. So they don’t know the floor procedure rules all that well, and have to rely on his rino a$$. When you are the minority , it is not fun, but it is easy. You just force the majority to bad votes. As has been happening. I blame many of the members who have been there for 3-4 terms...and still have NOT learned procedure.
It is important, because if you don’t know it in the House, the majority will break rules left and right and blow stuff right past ya.
Worse news. Denny H. will likely leave before the end of the year. Yet another seat that is up for grabs.
Yup truly a pukeworthy if not traitorous display on the congressmen’s parts
Sorry, sport, but would you care to remind us how long we had (or is it 'have had') troops in Japan and Germany, after we beat the tar out of them? If I remember correctly, we did NOT withdraw our forces from Japan or Germany in 1949...
Spot on, sir.
He got to where he is with poll approvals ratings in the tank because he is perceived to be weak. No one respects him which is evidenced by this article. He should have been playing hardball with these sniveling weaklings a long time ago. How come they have not been supporting this war instead of wanting to cut and run.
Yes, he should have thrown him out of his office the minute they did not show the proper respect for the Presidency and for the troops.
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