Tony Snow explains "Stay the course"

[underpants]

from 10/23/06 Press conference


Q Is there a change in the administration "stay the course" policy? Bartlett this morning said that wasn't ever the policy.

MR. SNOW: No, the policy -- because the idea of "stay the course" is you've done one thing, you kick back and wait for it. And this has always been a dynamic policy that is aimed at moving forward at all times on a number of fronts. And that would include the international diplomatic front. After all, the Iraq compact is something we worked out with the Iraqis before visiting the Prime Minister in Baghdad earlier this year.

So what you have is not "stay the course," but, in fact, a study in constant motion by the administration and by the Iraqi government, and, frankly, also by the enemy, because there are constant shifts, and you constantly have to adjust to what the other side is doing.

I think you also see much more aggressive efforts on the part of the Iraqi government because the Prime Minister understands the importance -- the vital importance of reconciliation. The third reconciliation conference will be taking place next -- is it next week, week after next -- on the 4th. He is working on the reconciliation front. There has been considerable, and continues to be, action on the economic front. And obviously, we're continuing to cooperate in security. That is not a "stay the course" policy.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061023-2.html

LATER in the same press conference

Q Tony, it seems what you have is not "stay the course." Has anybody told the President he should stop calling it "stay the course" then?

MR. SNOW: I don't think he's used that term in a while.

Q Oh, yes, he has, repeatedly.

MR. SNOW: When?

Q Well, in August, because I wrote a story saying he didn't use it and I was quite sternly corrected.

MR. SNOW: No, he stopped using it.

Q Why would he stop using it?

MR. SNOW: Because it left the wrong impression about what was going on. And it allowed critics to say, well, here's an administration that's just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is, when, in fact, it's just the opposite. The President is determined not to leave Iraq short of victory, but he also understands that it's important to capture the dynamism of the efforts that have been ongoing to try to make Iraq more secure, and therefore, enhance the clarification -- or the greater precision.

Q Is the President responsible for the fact people think it's stay the course since he's, in fact, described it that way himself?

MR. SNOW: No.

[stepnw1f]

1. Absolutely Ridiculous ...

the spinning is just way over the top!

[abluelady]

3. Correction

The lying is just way over the top!

[underpants]

6. Yeah, looking back at the 9/11 testimony and the pre-war stuff

it is amazing at how bad it is. I don't mean this as hind sight-not at all- you don't need hind sight this is just horribly bad acting and really bad lying. I always new they were lying but sometimes you are in a moment and don't see it for what it is.

This is just such a moment but I guess my ears and eyes have been well trained here on DU to immediately see how outrageous it all is.

[LynnTheDem]

2. Gee...but tony said

"you also cannot be a president in a wartime and not realize that you've got to stay the course."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060817-3.html

So if bush is NOT about "staying the course"...

These lying fuckers really do think all Americans are as dumb as freeping rightwingnuts.

[underpants]

12. Here is the "stay the course" video- 39 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZE20lzZZF0

[radfringe]

4. and is the president responsible for people thinking it's stay the course

of course not. it's the sheeple's own fault for mis-listening

[Buzz Clik]

5. This is yet another case of the WH handing the press secy a mess.

McClellan gave up because of this kind of crap. If you saw the tapes of Snow having to give his answer, it was clear that he knew he was bullshitting. He took no joy in it.

What a crappy job.

[Igel]

7. He explained that ineptly.

There is a way of viewing dropping the phrase, continuing in Iraq, and altering tactics that yields a consistent policy.

One may not believing that the resulting policy is correct, but one should at least be able to understand that there is consistency there and to state what it is. A high school graduate should be able to do it. (And if your income is based on using words, one should also be able to state coherently why dropping the phrase is not just desirable, but necessary.)

Snow was simply inept.

He should have taken an introduction to language class at some point so he'd have a clue about how language is used. Then again, the folks at CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WaPo, LAT, Fox, and numerous other media should take the same class ... they're equally inept, so Snow's in good, and numerous, company.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. Obviously, they're trying to re-define "stay the course" --

and it's putting them into "the definition of 'is'" territory.

Pure Orwell - you can't change the reality, but if you re-define it you don't need to.

[Yavin4]

8. It's Dead Parrott!!!

No, it isn't. It's merely sleeping.

[bullimiami]

11. sleeping.

[buddysmellgood]

9. Can I speak to Major Major please? I think we'd get a better answer.

[WI_DEM]

10. another Snowe-job but people aren't falling for it

[EST]

13. So friggin' incompetent they can't even lie squarely about

lying.
I certainly wasn't aware we wielded such power-that the twirp would change policy so we would no get the wrong impression.

Makes you wonder why they think we are so stupid that we can't recognize a marketing ploy-keep doing the same thing but change the name. "They are just democrats; like Mikey, they'll believe anything we tell 'em.."

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

14. It appears the Spinning has attained Tornadic levels