Wow! The White House is reeling
Watching the Presidential statement right now, and I think it really tells the politics of the situation that the White House felt they had to utilize the president to try and make the case against Rove and Miers testifying under oath.
They felt they had to have the President "go to the American people" on the stance, presumably because they don't think they can get support elsewhere and the politics have gotten out of control.
It feels very desperate.
Also: How much of the statement was "supporting" Gonzales versus how much was protecting Rove?
And, is Bush repeating the "Democrats trying to score political points" an attempt to try to mitigate the damage when they lose? Is he laying out the political frame for when Rove and Miers are eventually forced to testify?
Is the "executive privilege" line an effort to cut the heart out of Congress' investigation? If the firings were political engineered by the White House, drawing a line at the door only gives us the people who executed the firings.
I'll be curious to see how the media frames Bush's statement.
(Oh, and check the timing. It's early enough to make the nightly news, but late enough they don't really have time to dig into it.)
They felt they had to have the President "go to the American people" on the stance, presumably because they don't think they can get support elsewhere and the politics have gotten out of control.
It feels very desperate.
Also: How much of the statement was "supporting" Gonzales versus how much was protecting Rove?
And, is Bush repeating the "Democrats trying to score political points" an attempt to try to mitigate the damage when they lose? Is he laying out the political frame for when Rove and Miers are eventually forced to testify?
Is the "executive privilege" line an effort to cut the heart out of Congress' investigation? If the firings were political engineered by the White House, drawing a line at the door only gives us the people who executed the firings.
I'll be curious to see how the media frames Bush's statement.
(Oh, and check the timing. It's early enough to make the nightly news, but late enough they don't really have time to dig into it.)
posted by mikevotes at
4:51 PM
4 Comments:
They won over Tweety Bird Matthews on MSNBC. You could hear just how gushy he was getting between the legs talking about how "tough" and "passionate" the preznut was in speaking to the American people about his "reasonable proposal" to refuse to allow Miers and Rove talk to Congress unless they're given impunity to lie.
What is it w/ these fucking clowns in the media who get all gushy over the "toughness" of the preznut? I don't know about you, but to me it seemed less like "toughness" and more like good old stonewalling of potential criminal activity.
PS: Sorry for the disgusting imagery. But listening to Tweety Bird gush over Bush's address and agree w/ him that Dems are on a "fishing expedition" made me want to throw up.
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 5:27 PM
Wolf Blitzer used "tough" as well. Makes me wonder if the prepress sent to the media included that word.
Lou Dobbs, on the other hand, pretty much called Bush an outright liar, of course he then went on to repeat the "pure Democratic politics" talking point in the absolutely harshest of terms.
I would guess the media, based on their recent coverage will start with the White House line, and slowly swing around.
That seems to be the way it's going.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 5:49 PM
The president, more the a few times, about the "resignations of US attorneys." I found this to be patronizing. At this point in the game, to pretend that anyone resigned is just insulting. It has the flair of Soviet-era euphemisms.
I think Bush's "offer" to let Rove and Miers be interviewed, in private and with no transcription of their statements, comes across as practically admitting he has a lot of dirty laundry he's trying to hide. Couple this with his dogged refusal to let these people be placed under oath, and I think -- or I would hope -- this would make the nominally supportive citizen begin to be a little suspicious. Of course there will always be the Kool Aid drinkers, and I'm not talking about them.
Perhaps this is all going over the heads of everyone who is not a wonk. Still, on the surface, Bush does have the air of a man protesting too much...
By
-epm, at 9:20 PM
We have sent the comrade to spend more time with his family?
I'm wondering if some of the oath fear is that the Congress will manage to get him off topic. There are alot of prosecutors on that Senate committe who can be quite clever.
And, this statement did smell of desperation. Being tough because there is no other choice, but at the same time almost knowing they're going to lose.
Alot of the perception though has to do with how it's framed and what the excerpts are.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 9:49 PM
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