Bush Gets Personal on Social Security -LAT

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON — The president invited the small group of Republican congressmen to his living room on the second floor of the White House — not the formal offices he usually presides over — to talk about Social Security. While his guests sipped soda and munched peanuts, he did something even more remarkable.

He listened to them. He took criticism from them. For the better part of an hour, President Bush — who has been accused of taking a "my way or the highway" approach to Congress — was all ears.

"He didn't cut anybody off," said Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.). "He didn't try to debate us. Sometimes he's more argumentative."
....
"He's out there and making sure he's talking to all of us — a lot — and not just when … we're in the doghouse," said Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio).

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bushlobby25apr25,0,3654278.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Pithy Cherub]

1. The * charm "offensive" is offically on sponsored by....

:hide:

[gWbush is Mabus]

2. he listened to republicans - gimmie a break

[Racenut20]

3. Whoopeeeeee !!!!!!!

[whistle]

4. The operative words were "small group of Republican congressmen"

...no democrats, no diversity of opinions, just close loyalists who will tell Bush what he wants to hear, be window dressing fro the public. They still want to pass privatized social security to begin the largest program of public theft cover-up in U.S. history.

[rodeodance]

8. this meeting was in MARCH

....That at-home meeting in March was one of dozens that Bush has held over the last three months to coax Republicans to set aside their qualms about his drive to overhaul Social Security. The lobbying effort — less visible than his high-profile 60-day campaign to promote his Social Security plan around the country — has had Bush more personally and deeply engaged with lawmakers than at any other time in his presidency.

That effort has brought more than 160 House and Senate Republicans to the White House in small groups, given many lawmakers face time with Bush aboard Air Force One and brought dozens to events where Bush has addressed their constituents on Social Security.

The lobbying drive has apparently done little to change minds and bump up the congressional vote count, but the White House says it never intended this stage of the campaign to be an arm-twisting enterprise.

Still, the fact that Bush has had to mount such a full-court press even within his own party is a measure of just how difficult a political task he faces — and how much the dynamic between the White House and Congress has changed in his second term.....

[whistle]

13. Difficult to steal without everyone being able to dip into the kitty

[wallwriter]

5. A sure sign

of blood in the water. A bunch of these knuckleheads are going to lose their seats (or worse) from being associated with Bush policies of war, bankruptcy, pollution, etc. He should have been doing this all along...

[Dhalgren]

6. Bush's doggedness regarding private accounts

is becoming delusional. What is the deal he has struck concerning private accounts and with whom was the deal made? This makes no sense except as a "deal breaker" of some sort. With the Schiavo case, as soon as Bush realized his position was opposed by 80% of the public, he backed off and simply gave wimpy lip-service to "erring on the side of life" crap; and he only did this sparingly. But with this private accounts business he seems unrealistically tunnel-visioned. There is something being covered up about these accounts - what it is we may never know...

[PassingFair]

17. Personally, I think

that the "personal accounts" are need to prop up the stock market. Like right now...

[livetohike]

7. First Bush is out wasting taxpayers money on his 60 day tour

and then he decides to listen to some members of Congress?

He is an idiot.

[Supersedeas]

14. exactly, bonus idiot points for the Frat Boy

[gratuitous]

9. Wow, a bunch of millionaires talking about Social Security

I'm sure their viewpoints ran the gamut from A to A.

[Straight Shooter]

10. Come to Oregon, bush, and watch me work a 60-hour week

I'll give you an earful of what it's like to pay self-employment taxes, no health insurance, all bills and no frills, taking anything left over and putting it into an IRA, and still worried you're trying to pull the rug out from my future elderly feet.

Yeah, come listen to me, bush, I'm just an ordinary citizen. Does my opinion matter to you? :eyes:

[0007]

11. Der Führer has spoken and will speak again soon

so hold on to your seats. If ya get the drift!

[AzDar]

12. I STILL believe they're up to something...Bush campaigned in 2004

only to friendly audiences; how can he win over any voters by only appearing before those already pledging their fealty, I wondered??
After the election, it became painfully, horrifyingly clear...He KNEW
he didn't need to win over any new voters because the election was already in the bag.
He seems to be following the same pattern with SS, and that makes me VERY nervous..like it's a foregone conclusion. *shudders*

[truthisfreedom]

15. no doubt the meeting was recorded and then analyzed by someone with

a brain or two. there's no way bush absorbed anything but peanuts and pop.

[lawladyprof]

16. What I find horrifying (but not surprising) is

the description of his conduct at previous meetings.