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Karen, For the
President to take time out personally in a small room to meet families is a
plus. Are you
suggesting he should address them all from a rostrum in the Gym? The
fact is that whatever he does it will be condemned by his opponents –
which is fair. But
Cindy has been grabbed by the Demos as a great way to embarrass Bush. That’s
fair too – it’s part of politics. Just as that poor brain-dead girl
became a political football. Sometime
between her seeing Bush and now, Cindy has become political and every bit of political
capital will be squeezed out of it by her handlers. Meantime
Lance is trying to get increased money for cancer research with his bike ride. Bush
knows this, everyone knows this, everyone approves and hopes Lance will
succeed. Yet,
this became: ‘In addition to the
two-hour bike ride, Bush's Saturday schedule included an evening Little League
Baseball playoff game, a lunch meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, a nap, some fishing and some reading. "I think the people
want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to
stay healthy," he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving mom
wanted to speak with him. "And part of my being is to be outside exercising."’ This is probably accurate, but look at the beautiful spin – again perfectly
fair, but don’t assume it’s not a political statement. He saw the
grieving mom – he just won’t see the political mom. Harry ******************************* of 818
352-4141 ******************************* From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Karen Watters Cole Of course, Bush did look Cindy in the eye a couple of months ago. Now, it’s a Move-on.com political ploy. Harry Yes, Pres. Bush has, by White House accounts, visited
privately with at least 900 military grieving families. They are usually
separated into rooms on a base or in a gym and he goes from one family to the
next, like a doctor seeing patients, each family getting an allotted amount of
time. Some even accost him verbally, and he has been emotionally impacted by
the experience, as well as his wife. This is much different than answering questions from
an articulate mother who has gotten over being polite as a matter of respect
for the president, after it was revealed that the WMDs weren’t there,
that the war’s planners didn’t account for reality, that many
soldiers are not well protected, and the rhetoric fails to acknowledge the
costly mistakes. It leaves many otherwise patriotic Americans angry at the
disconnect between the sales and the customer service this administration
practices. The hardest words for GWB to say: I made a mistake. While I agree the magnitude of Camp Casey itself (now
joined in Crawford by a pro-Bush Camp Qualls) has taken on further dimensions
(Bushstock 2005 will have events in DC late September) the public outpouring of
conflicted opinion and restless frustration is genuine. That’s reflected
in the poll released today by ARG showing Bush’s approval ratings at 36%,
a six point drop since July, and lower than Nixon’s during the height of
Watergate. This poll, by the way, was taken the first weekend of August, before
the Sheehan Effect could be a factor and relates to dissatisfaction with domestic
policy (gas prices, job worries, credibility issues). Whatever Bush is
selling, as they say, fewer Americans seem to be buying it. This ARG poll was all over the broadcast and internet
media today, but not likely the rightwing media, so I’m sharing it with
you from my next Casey Report dispatch:
President Bush deserves vacation time, certainly, but
he didn’t help himself to any remaining sympathy with his untimely
comments about R&R during his five week vacation, which now exceeds the
record time Reagan spent vacationing in 8 years: It’s hard work, but Bush will ‘go on with life’:
defends refusal to see protesting mother. “President Bush, noting
that lots of people want to talk to the president and "it's also important
for me to go on with my life," on Saturday defended his decision not to meet with
the grieving mom of a soldier killed in "But," he added, "I
think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life."
The comments came prior to a bike ride on the ranch with
journalists and aides. It also came as the crowd of protesters grew in support
of Sheehan, the On Friday, Bush's motorcade drove by the protest site en
route to a Republican fund-raising event at a nearby ranch. As Bush rolled by,
Sheehan held a sign that said, "Why do you make time for donors and not
for me?" Imagine how “it’s also important for me to
go on with my life” sounds to the families of dead soldiers, much less
orphaned children in KwC |
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