Anyone hear about the WH snubbing Kerry's request for meeting

[LittleClarkie]

I was passing by Rush this morning as I surfed, and heard him bring up John, so I stopped. He was making a big deal about John's comments about how we'd be much better off if Bush had done what Kerry said we should do (making fun of Kerry "not really having a plan").

But then he said something I wanted to hear more about, that Kerry had requested a meeting at the WH and was being ignored. Now who reported that?

[TayTay]

1. Kery talked about it last week.

Maybe it was the Brookings Institute speech, I;ll have to look it up. So he is being snubbe? Why am I not surprised. * can't handle it and can't put the election behind him and meet with Kerry for the good of the nation. What a wimp.

[karynnj]

2. Could anything better demonstrate the difference between these men

Kerry, is man enough and patriotic enough, to put aside his disappointment in the election result, to give Bush whatever insight he has from his visits, while Bush is too arrogant or too lazy to give Kerry the time. It's so stupid. Bush could ignore or reject out of hand Kerry's insight, analysis, or even comments of what he talked about. After all it's not as if Kerry has any diplomatic skill or has ever been on the Foreign Affairs committee.

[ginnyinWI]

3. petty, small, partisan

and not a man. Bush is a child who is afraid of being found out. So he puts on a bluster. He can't meet with Kerry or even look him in the eye. When 9/11 happened he ran--flew away to parts unknown and left Cheney in charge. Kerry, in D.C. at the time, was angry and was thinking, "where's my gun". And there is the difference.

[elshiva]

4. Really? This really happened on 9/11?

It doesn't surprise me.
Remember the 2000 election when Dubya kept turning down debating with Gore for so long. He's a wimp and can't face down opposition Democrats, so he's got to rape-hug Liberman on the senate floor for his jollies. The man's a sicko...

[LittleClarkie]

8. I copied that article from the New Yorker

I remember the Freepers trying to make something of the footage of Kerry leaving the Senate, as if he were running. No, actually, everyone else was running. He was walking calmly and looking at the sky. I remember the quote you mention. His staff said he was furious at what he considered "an act of war." How it must kill him that we've let Osama bin Forgotten go.

I think that's why these war votes are hard for him, and why he's not the Kerry of 71 when it comes to Iraq or the subject of terrorism. He was on point for so long regarding terrorism, giving speeches on it as far back as 1997, knowing what he does about international crime. He knows the problem, he knows what solutions should be taken, and all the other side can do is try and make him look like a buffoon, while quietly actually taking his advice. Well, he's not the buffoon, Bush is. Kerry's right. If they would have done the things he said when he said them, they'd be in better shape now.

Yesterday, some of the posters didn't understand (no duh). Kerry wasn't getting all warm and fuzzy because Bush was taking his advice. It's more like they're stealing his ideas and not giving him credit for coming up with the right path. He's correct alot of the time, but they could never tell that to him to his face, or even invite him in to advise. Oh no, God forbid. But somebody is paying attention enough to try and enact what Kerry suggests. Even so, they'll muck it up in the end.

One of the most disheartening things I've read in recent memory was what Bush Co. has done to the CIA. Hersch, I think, said that it has gone from being an information gathering agency to being a faciliating agency. Bush Co. doesn't want to know what's really happening in the world. They just want the CIA to find reasons for them to do what they want to in the world, whether reality supports it or not.

It must frustrate the living hell out of Kerry that Bush Co will never understand properly, nor correct properly, the problem of terrorism in the world.

I can imagine if the shit hits the fan as I suspect it will, the American people will be so sick of the subject of terrorism that they won't even want the next President to mention it. So the problem of international terrorism STILL won't be handled properly. Our credibility and our ability to act properly will be damaged by this adminstration, and it's going to take a long time to get it back.

I just thought of a quote from "An American President" something about the president thinking his opponent didn't "get it" and realizing that his problem was not that he didn't "get it", but that he couldn't sell it. Sounds like Bush Co. to me.

[Withywindle]

9. I can't begin to fathom how furious he must be

about all of this. How he manages to go on being his thoughtful, rational self day by day...he just never stops impressing me.

And he'll never stop working and thinking, either. He'll be like Carter someday, a true elder statesman, getting the respect from the rest of the world when too many people here couldn't think far enough to appreciate him.

[Pirate Smile]

5. It was in an article. I remember because I responded to a post about how

EXTREMELY unlikely I thought it would be for Chimpy to actually meet with JK.

I think it was about what he learned during his trip to the Middle East and Europe.

JK just said he would hoped he could meet with Bush and tell him what he saw or something to that effect. It didn't say anything about him actually trying to set up a meeting and the WH saying NO.

[LittleClarkie]

6. Rush, gleefully (the bastard) made it sound like they hadn't even bothered

with the NO. He made it sound like the WH just ignored him.

But of course this is Rush, so I'd like a better source. I agree with Al Franken about the idiot part, though in reading Al's book, I wish he hadn't tried to joke about "fat" so much. "Gee, you're so fat" ain't funny to me. At 5' nuthin and 188 lbs, I somewhat resemble that remark.

[WildEyedLiberal]

7. Yeah I know what you mean

But I do think Al was going for irony, since Rush makes vicious, personal, ad hominem attacks on liberals all the time. The worst was when he called Chelsea Clinton (12 at the time) the "White House dog." I think Al was just trying to poke nasty fun at Rush by making all sorts of horrible personal remarks about him the way he does to people. It was brutally effective.

[karynnj]

10. Another perspective

While I'm sure for the country's good, Kerry would want to pass on any positive suggestions, insight etc, there may be a reason for PUBLICLY indicating that he wants to talk to Bush. As it would be easy for him to make this offer privately, I don't think it was an accident that he publicly made the offer. (It also may imply that the * administration has not met with him to discuss his observations since he got back, which is short sighted.)

Someone stated that the Republicans plan to paint us as the party of "no" and as obstructionists. Saying he wants a meeting with Bush before Bush goes abroad puts Kerry in the position of saying sincerely and truthfully that he just wanted to do his job as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee in providing the unique insight and information he obtained. Just as his legislative proposals have been positive, this was positive. Likewise, just as many of his proposals may go nowhere, his offer here may be snubbed. But by offering, he wins.

[Pirate Smile]

11. Exactly. It isn't like he really thought Bush would meet with him or

listen. Only Rush would try to blow this into anything.

[karynnj]

12. Yeah

What I don't understand is why Bush wouldn't ask Kerry to privately and convidentialy meet with him. Although I think they totally dislike each other, Kerry's entire life shows that even if he was sworn to never say he met with Bush, for the good of the country he would provide whatever knowledge he has. Is it possible that Bush can't see Kerry as anything but an opponent. (It's weird that the victor can't move on from the fight when his opponent obviously has.)

[Pirate Smile]

13. Bush doesn't even want to hear from his own cabinet secretaries and

other Republicans unless they are just going to agree with his preset decisions and POV.

He never even asked Powell or Rumsfeld their opinion on invading Iraq before he did it (or after).

[karynnj]

14. You are right

It's just hard to keep in mind how little Bush considers others input. (Strange though that obviously some of his base take this as a virtue. He knows his own mind, don't bother him with facts.)

It's difficult to think that he really really is like this. I think maybe he and Kerry are as close to polar opposites as any pair that ran against he other.