Tuesday, so we have Froomkin again.
Scroll down through the account of the Scooter Libby starting up in DC today, to Froomkin’s presentation of highlights from the interview Bush gave to Scott Pelley of CBS t.v. last weekend. He says we should,
- give the CBS correspondent some credit for addressing the elephant in the room: Bush’s lack of credibility.
“PELLEY: You know better than I do that many Americans feel that your administration has not been straight with the country, has not been honest. To those people you say what?
“BUSH: On what issue?
“PELLEY: Well, sir . . . .
“BUSH: Like the weapons of mass destruction?
“PELLEY: No weapons of mass destruction.
“BUSH: Yeah.
“PELLEY: No credible connection between 9/11 and Iraq.
“BUSH: Yeah.
“PELLEY: The Office of Management and Budget said this war would cost somewhere between $50 billion and $60 billion and now we’re over 400.
“BUSH: I gotcha. I gotcha. I gotcha.
“PELLEY: The perception, sir, more than any one of those points, is that the administration has not been straight with . . . .
“BUSH: Well, I strongly disagree with that, of course. There were a lot of people, both Republicans and Democrats, who felt there were weapons of mass destruction. Many of the leaders in the Congress spoke strongly about the fact that Saddam Hussein had weapons prior to my arrival in Washington, DC. And we’re all looking at the same intelligence. So I strongly reject that this administration hasn’t been straight with the American people. The minute we found out they didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, I was the first to say so. Scott, all I can do is just tell the truth, tell people exactly what’s on my mind, which is what I do.
“PELLEY: You seem to be saying that you may have been wrong but you weren’t dishonest.
“BUSH: Oh, absolutely.”
Pelley let his tough questions drop too soon, and didn’t do the requisite debunking. For instance, Bush had access to a lot of intelligence that Congress hadn’t seen, some of which raised serious doubts about WMD claims — and the president was among the last to acknowledge there were no WMD, not the first.
Froomkin packs a lot into today’s offering. Further down yet he directs us to a story by Susan Page in (today’s) USA Today:
- Page writes… : “President Bush’s address to the nation last week failed to move public opinion in support of his plan to increase U.S. troop levels in Iraq and left Americans more pessimistic about the likely outcome of the war. . . .
“Approval of Bush’s handling of Iraq moved up a tick, from a low point of 26% before the speech to 28% now. His overall job-approval rating dipped 3 points, to 34%.”
Here are the poll results.
Asked to choose between four options, an all-time high of 56 percent of Americans said they support either an immediate withdrawal (17 percent) or a withdrawal in 12 months (39 percent), compared to 29 percent who favor keeping troops in Iraq as long as needed, and 13 percent who want to send more troops.
I’ve been waiting to see the results in the opinion polls that the Prez got from his long-awaited “address to the nation” last week. If he won from it only two percentage points on Iraq, while losing three on overall job-approval rating, then that confirms that the guy is in deep, deep political trouble.
Maybe he, Dick, and Karl will conclude– in light of all the above, including the Libby trial– that they need to rev up the plane engines for an dog-wagger attack on Iran very soon. Another sad, sick, tragic “mission” to “accomplish”?
Maybe he, Dick, and Karl will conclude– in light of all the above, including the Libby trial– that they need to rev up the plane engines for an dog-wagger attack on Iran very soon. Another sad, sick, tragic “mission” to “accomplish”?
Henela, that means the end of these war mongering, its like they do suicide for the US
Rice could testify in Libby trial
In the justices system the liers should dismissed to be wittiness and be in the court room to testy for the accused.
This gang of liers each one testify for others, what a trial is this?
I didn’t think much of the BUsh segment on 60 minutes. the questions were like what a fourth grader would ask. or Oprah. they were “tough” only in the dumbest way.
But I wonder if i wasn’t the only one who saw parelles between the segment that followed: mike nifong and the duke debacle. especially when the professor said “he got himself into a whole and he started digging and digging”.
Bush’s “My Lessons from Iraq” page one: the best way to pre-empt WMD programs is to stage low cost air attacks on ones that don’t really exist.
Bush need only drop a big noisy bunker buster in a remote corner of Iran. Load it with wee traces of U-235. Then Bush can claim Iran’s nuke program has been pre-empted, claim a smashing success, and vindicate himself, Libby, and the whole gang. Iran will not counter-attack if the US strike avoids cities or it the risk of a damaging US 3rd round attack appear too high. W will smirk, Cheney will chuckle, and Karl will crow. Fox, Weekly Standard, NR, and goodness knows who else will all be high fiving and break out the champagne. Hillary will be anxious to claim partial credit (“never did like those perfidious Persians”). Democrats on the Hill will mute their non-binding resolution and the Iraq “surge” will proceed, winning Bush a 2-year reprieve from any negotiations, concessions, or withdrawal.