As he is inclined to do, the president assembled a group of sycophantic media guests to boost his ego at the White House yesterday, the latest in a series of gatherings between Bush and like-minded allies who enjoy telling him exactly what he wants to hear — and agrees with every word he says.
At yesterday’s press gaggle, Press Secretary Dana Perino read the names of the invited guests:
Michael Barone (U.S. News), Tony Blankley (Washington Times), David Brooks (New York Times), Ron Kessler (NewsMax), Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Larry Kudlow (CNBC), Morton Kondracke (Roll Call), Kimberly Strassel (Wall Street Journal), Kathryn Lopez and Kate O’Beirne (National Review).
When she was done, some White House reporters literally laughed. Out loud.
At the same gaggle, one journalist reportedly asked, “Regarding the columnist roundtable, was there any logical standard used in issuing the invitations?”
This, too, drew laughs.
It has come to this. The Bush Bubble is so strong, and the president is so loath to talk to people who might confront him with ideas that conflict with his own, that the White House press secretary draws laughter by reading the lists of “reporters” (read: sycophantic media allies) Bush is willing to hang out with.
Of course, all of this paid off, just as it always does. The president felt better after being around those who told him how great he is, and the conservative writers got to head back to the office to document how impressed they were with their ally in the White House.
Dan Froomkin documented some of the results:
Kathryn Lopez and Kate O’Beirne quickly turned around a summary of the meeting for the National Review Online yesterday. Their startling conclusion: “[T]he president is optimistic about the U.S. military’s ability to accomplish its mission.”
William Kristol writes for the Weekly Standard: “Much of what the president said was, naturally, familiar; and some of his most interesting comments and reflections he put off-the-record. But there was at least one on-the-record answer by the president that should make news. For the first time, President Bush weighed in on the debate over the MoveOn.org ad.”
Kristol quotes Bush as saying: “When I saw the ad by the far left-wing people, I was incredulous at first and then became mad.” Then Bush continued, using almost the exact same words he used this morning.
Ronald Kessler writes for NewsMax about his attempt to get Bush to take swipes at the two top Democratic presidential contenders: “As noted in a recent NewsMax article, even though it could be their greatest vulnerability in the general presidential election, the media have virtually ignored Clinton’s and Obama’s votes against revising FISA,” Kessler complains. “Referring to the two presidential candidates’ nay votes, I asked Bush, ‘What does that tell you about someone who would do that?’ “‘Well, the American people are going to have to figure that out themselves,’ said Bush.”
In a blog post on National Review’s Corner, Lopez writes that “the president was in a serious but confident mood — clearly sending the message that this administration is not close to over.”
Kessler e-mails me that “everyone behaved except the president, who kept tormenting Kim Strassel of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, whose baby was due yesterday, about whether she was about to give birth in the Roosevelt Room.”
Morton M. Kondracke writes in Roll Call (subscription required): “Bush may be a lame duck. And he showed he knows that his credibility is low. He said, ‘People listen to Petraeus, not to me.’ Still, like Frank Sinatra in what became his signature song, Bush seems determined to go out doing it ‘My Way.'”
Kondracke’s description of Bush’s thoughts about children’s health insurance got his piece touted in the White House press office’s morning e-mail to the press corps.
And if all of this seems kind of familiar, it’s because these invited-flatterers-only gatherings seem to be increasingly common. Last October, Bush arranged a gathering of conservative luminaries — including Sean Hannity, Neil Boortz, Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved, and Mike Gallagher — for a mutual-admiration confab. In July, it was time for another meeting of the conservative minds, when Bush invited pundits like David Brooks, Rich Lowry, and Kate O’Beirne over for a chat. In August, Bush hosted another gathering, this time with Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Boortz, Scott Hennon, Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Medved, Janet Parshall, and Hugh Hewitt.
The latest example came late last week, when Bush chatted with milbloggers who support his Iraq policy.
And now, this week, it’s a who’s who of partisan media personalities.
The Bubble remains very much intact.