Yesterday, we learned that the 11 House Republicans met with the president and his senior aides at the White House this week for an “unvarnished” conversation about the administration’s war policy in Iraq. Various media accounts of the 90-minute meeting suggested that the GOP lawmakers are nervous about what the war is going to do to the party’s future.
This certainly wasn’t good news for the White House, but an adept political operation could spin the meeting fairly easily. If I worked for Bush (yes, it strains the imagination), I’d tell reporters that the president enjoyed the frank exchange of views. For all the talk that Bush is in a “bubble,” I’d say, this meeting is proof that Bush takes lawmakers’ concerns seriously, even those who disagree. I’d add that the president always wants to hear from any official who has constructive ideas about this conflict.
Of course, I wouldn’t buy this spin, but it’s not ridiculous. Indeed, Dana Perino was on CNN last night articulating a similar message: “They expressed frustration, because of a lack of progress. The president understands that. He’s right there with them on that. And I think that, if you look at our party, we are ones that like frank exchange of views. We have a big tent. And discussions like this are OK. They’re good to have. And that’s why the president was very happy to have them at the White House.”
See? The meeting was a good thing after all! Or at least it was, right up until the White House started stepping on its own spin.
Top Bush administration officials lashed out at a pair of House Republicans at the White House yesterday after details about a contentious meeting between President Bush and GOP legislators were leaked to the media earlier this week.
The confrontations are the latest indications of an intensifying rift between Bush and congressional Republicans.
Reps. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) attracted the ire of White House officials for allegedly speaking to reporters about a Tuesday meeting between Bush and centrist Republicans on the Iraq war.
Oops.
Apparently, the White House’s frustration with the House Republicans got pretty heated.
Sources said that Dan Meyer, Bush’s liaison to the House, confronted LaHood while White House political strategist Karl Rove rebuked Kirk. It is unclear if LaHood or Kirk were the original sources for the stories, but LaHood was quoted in one of the articles.
Regardless, LaHood and Meyer got into a shouting match as emotions ran high and voices were raised yesterday morning in the White House while lawmakers were waiting to meet with first lady Laura Bush, according to two legislators who witnessed the exchange. LaHood and five other GOP lawmakers met with Mrs. Bush in the Yellow Oval in the White House residence to chat about the No Child Left Behind law.
“The White House is not happy,” said a Republican lawmaker.
No? I thought Dana Perino told a national television audience that the discussion was a “good” thing to have, and that the Republicans should congratulate themselves for having a “frank exchange of views.” Doesn’t the Bush gang want everyone to know about these helpful discussions?