The president is in the midst of his “carefully choreographed” meetings on Iraq policy with experts who apparently are already inclined to agree with him. In the Bush White House, it’s what passes for “listening mode.”
At yesterday’s White House press briefing, a reporter raised an interesting question about how the president interacts with those who are briefing him on the war.
Q: On these briefings, is the President asking many questions?
MR. SNOW: Yes. It’s typically his nature. There were some presentations, especially — well, there were presentations both from State Department employees and also by folks on the provincial reconstruction teams. But on the other hand, he asks a lot of questions. And, you know, certainly not above stopping somebody as they make their presentation, asking a few pointed questions, and sometimes the conversation will move off in a different direction as a consequence.
Of course, Bush is quite the inquisitive one, isn’t he? It’s in his “nature” to ask a lot of questions; so many, in fact, that policy experts can barely get through a presentation without Mr. Thirst For Knowledge interrupting to inquire about additional details.
Please. When the presidential daily briefing said bin Laden was determined to strike inside the U.S., Bush didn’t ask any questions. When the NOAA said Katrina was about to smack the Gulf Coast, Bush didn’t ask any questions. Recalling the Iraq Study Group’s meeting with the president, former Bush 41 Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger said, “I don’t recall, seriously, that he asked any questions.”
And now we’re supposed to believe it’s “typically his nature” to be highly inquisitive? Since when?
By the way, there was one other gem from yesterday’s press briefing.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) raised some eyebrows late last week when, after years of general support for the president’s policy in Iraq, he condemned the effort. “I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day,” Smith said, adding, “That is absurd. It may even be criminal.”
Reporters asked Tony Snow for the White House’s reaction to Smith’s comments.
MR. SNOW: Well, we dispute the “criminal” part, obviously, and at the same time, understand the senator’s concern. We share the concern about not doing well enough fast enough. But do not assume that people are simply being blown up. They are on missions. And as General Corelli said last week, “There’s not an engagement our people have lost, but it is still important to continue the work of building greater capability and capacity on the part of the Iraqi government and helping them out.”
People on both sides are going to have disagreements, much as Joe Lieberman, formerly a Democrat, apparently run out of his party for disagreeing with what was seen as orthodoxy at that time, but Gordon —
Q Republican Senator Smith is challenging the strategy. What he basically said yesterday, as well, was, when you do the same thing over and over again without a clear strategy for victory, that is dereliction, that is deeply immoral. Such is the dispute. He’s saying what the President is doing is immoral.
MR. SNOW: Well, then we disagree.
Q You’re just going to blow it off? A Republican senator is saying the President’s policy may be criminal and it’s immoral, and you’re just saying, we just disagree?
MR. SNOW: And what would you like me to say? Should I do duels at 10 paces?
Q Don’t you think you should answer for that? You’re saying — you’ve said from this podium over and over that the strategy is a victory, right? And you have a Republican senator is saying there is no clear strategy, that you don’t have a strategy.
MR. SNOW: Well, let’s let Senator Smith hear what the President has to say. We understand that this is a time where politics are emotional in the wake of an election. And you know what? Senator Smith is entitled to his opinion…. I don’t think it’s immoral to be a democracy. I don’t think it’s immoral to have a state that is able to stand up and defend itself against acts of terror. I don’t think it’s immoral to defend the Iraqi people against acts of terrorism aimed at Muslims.
Q The Senator is not saying that’s immoral. He’s saying that the U.S. — he’s saying, of course democracy is a great goal —
MR. SNOW: You know what, Ed? Ed, I’ll tell you what. You’re engaging in an argument and you’re trying to fill in the gaps in a —
Q It’s not an argument. It’s a Republican senator saying it, not me. It’s a Republican senator saying it, and he’s not —
MR. SNOW: Then tell me exactly what —
Q — of course he’s in favor of democracy.
MR. SNOW: Tell me —
Q Are you saying Republican Senator Smith is not in favor of democracy?
MR. SNOW: Well, I don’t know.
It’s the kind of smear the Bush gang usually reserves for Dems. Follow the logic — Bush started the war; the war is intended to create a democracy; democracy is good; therefore those who criticize the president’s handling of the war may disapprove of democracy.
It’s like talking to a child.