Brian Williams Says Bush Animated and Aggravated

[RamboLiberal]

http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/

As is the custom prior to a major speech (normally the State of the Union and select others), the White House today invited a small group of broadcast journalists to the Roosevelt Room for a briefing, which was mostly with national security types... until the President walked in, unescorted. Tim Russert and I calculated that he was with us for just over an hour. He was forceful, animated and at times aggravated by the current state of the debate over Iraq. While the conditions of the conversation do not allow for direct quotation, we can certainly reflect the President's thinking when we come on the air tonight. Upon exiting the West Wing, I phoned one particular detail into MSNBC: Toward the end I asked the President if he'd seen the Saddam Hussein execution video. He said he had, and when I asked where it "ranked" (among the mistakes of the war) he indicated it was just below Abu Ghraib in terms of damage -- meaning slightly less damaging. The President also noted the damage done at Haditha.

It was, as I discussed with Brit Hume on my way down the West Wing driveway, an energetic and muscular tour of the world that the President gave us today. It was full of detail, but delivered in plain language. It is safe to report that the President is acutely mindful of the position this speech puts him in, and the position his policy puts him in. He sees the numbers. One thing he refuses to discuss is the notion of a "what if/plan B" backup. He says he is, in this instance, all about this portion of the mission. It is clear he is ready for a fight, and ready to take his argument to the people if opponents start tinkering with the machinery of war funding. In repeated bows to realism, the President indicated the patience of the United States is not limitless -- while he strongly indicated that generations of Americans would pay a heavy price should we retreat now. As for the other material we learned, Tim and I will take a moment and go through, on the air tonight, our joint recollections of today's session at the White House.