Meet the president:"I'm not going to change, see?" : Globe

[jbfam4]

GLOBE EDITORIAL
Meet the president
2/9/2004 http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/02/09/meet_the_president/

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH summed it up succinctly: "I'm not going to change, see?" In an hourlong interview with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," conducted Friday and aired yesterday, Bush consistently defended actions that many Americans now question.

Pre-war intelligence failures on Iraq did not trouble Bush. Although he conceded the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction he expected to find have not materialized, Bush said the larger point is that Saddam Hussein was "a madman" who had used such weapons in the past and "had the ability to make weapons, at the very minimum."


For instance, when he was pressed on the administration's rationale for war against Iraq because it was an imminent threat, Bush said, "I believe it is essential that, when we see a threat, we deal with those threats before they become imminent. It's too late if they become imminent. It's too late in this new kind of war."

Does this mean that Bush would strike militarily against potential threats? Is this a new policy that goes beyond preemptive action against supposedly real, immediate threats and contemplates attacks on imagined ones? Bush would do better to admit that the Iraq war rationale was off base, though he could still argue the result was worthwhile.


But this appealing acknowledgment stood apart. The rest of the interview showed Bush grimly obstinate. "I'm a war president," he said, referring repeatedly to the war on terrorism as the defining mission of his presidency. But he continues to stumble over inconvenient facts as he marches straight ahead.

[Homer12]

1. Bushco going down with the ship

The lack of any ethical apology for anything he has ever done underneath his watch can be heard in nice little sound bites - Thanks GW.

Reality is for those not blinded by arrogance and ideology.

[TexasEditor]

2. Just goes to show...

that Rove isn't a genius, letting the hollow man mouth off like that.


"Like Father, Like Son, One Term and He's Done."

[wabeewoman]

3. It struck me that bush

could have done so much better in that interview if he once said, we got it wrong. But he is so arrogant he just can't admit to any mistakes. Personally I don't think they were mistakes. They were lies but they thought they could snow the people forever. The arrogance is going to get them in the end.

[jbfam4]

6. I agree,

but think of what the outcome could have been if the troops were greeted with flower etc. and it had been a "cake walk", as promised.

[kclown]

4. Are you prepared to lose?

My fave part.  He won't even admit the possibility.  I wonder
if he'll leave peacefully.

[disgruntled_goat]

5. mmm. thanks for the mental image

I picture SS agents dragging W by his feet out of the WH. that'd set the neo-con bastards back a few years at least.

hey, a man can dream, neh?

[DrBB]

7. Bush does NOT lie

He says, "I'm a war president." Not a "war-time" president, but a "war president." I.e., that's the essence of his policy as president: war. No kidding.

Regarding the AWOL scandal, he says his people "scoured the records." Yup, scoured 'em clean. So go have a look, we already scoured 'em.

I don't know why people don't trust the guy--all you have to do is take him at his word.