NYT: His Image Tarnished, Bush Seeks to Restore Credibility

[DeepModem Mom]

His Image Tarnished, Bush Seeks to Restore Credibility
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: November 11, 2005


WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 - Faced with a bleak public mood about Iraq and stung by Democratic accusations that he led the nation into war on false pretenses, President Bush is beginning a new effort to shore up his credibility and cast his critics as hypocrites.

In a Veterans Day speech on Friday in Pennsylvania, Mr. Bush will take on a new round of accusations by Democrats that he exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons programs, a senior administration official said Thursday, conceding that the Democrats' attack had left more Americans with doubts about Mr. Bush's honesty.

"It will be the most direct refutation of the Democrat charges you've seen probably since the election," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to outline a strategy that has not yet become public and will play out over several weeks through presidential speeches, close coordination with Republicans on Capitol Hill and a stepped-up effort by the Republican National Committee.

Questions about the intelligence the administration used to justify the war have dogged Mr. Bush almost since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003...But developments in recent months, including the 2,000th American military death and the renewed focus on flawed prewar intelligence in the C.I.A. leak case, have helped drive Mr. Bush's poll numbers to new lows and intensified public disquiet with the war. Among the developments most worrisome to the White House has been a pronounced erosion in the positive public view of the president's personal integrity, a characteristic that Mr. Bush had made the backbone of his political appeal....

***

The White House's effort to stop the erosion is centered on defining the president's critics as Democrats who voted for the war based on the same intelligence Mr. Bush saw but have switched positions, often under pressure from their party's left wing....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/politics/11policy.html

[Beetwasher]

1. Bring. It. On. Chimpy.

n/t

[bucknaked]

2. Going to use an event to honor our veterans, for his own political agenda

Wonderful.

[truthisfreedom]

3. our tax dollars at work!

he's so flipped out that he's unable to do his job, so he spends all of his time defending himself.

[4nic8em]

8. Reminiscent of...

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outa my hat".

[MojoXN]

20. Welcome to DU!

Enjoy your stay! :hi:

MojoXN

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Yeah -- that's really not right, is it??? nt

[pinto]

4. He's *still* running for office? Geez... I'm impressed.... Not.

[aquart]

5. "Stung"??? Like he's shocked and surprised?

I hate articles that START with a whitewash.

Georgie can say anything he wants. He ate cake while American citizens begged for water on the streets of an American city. It doesn't matter what he says. We know what he did.

[Erika]

11. Yep and so does the whole world

He shames us all.

[depakid]

17. That was the tipping point

The gig was finally up that day- and no matter what the media whores do, neither Bush nor the Republicans are apt to recover.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the Dems will take veru much advantage. So long as their DINO's keep selling out, the perception among many will be that the Dems aren't any better.

[DoYouEverWonder]

25. Yes we do know

and we will not forget.

[EFerrari]

28. Maybe the headline should be :Its image tarnished, the NYT

Still Inventing Bush Credibility"

[spindrifter]

6. I cannot defend anyone

who voted for the Iraq war--but this I can say--the Dems. who got the same info as the Pres. did DID NOT HAVE PEOPLE WHO MANUFACTURED THE INFORMATION, dammit.

[Erika]

9. The Dems did NOT get the same info as the Pres

He/Cheney got it first and passed their version as fact on to the Dems. Don't fall for the GOP line.

[The Roux Comes First]

16. To clarify, he and Cheney seem to have arranged for

the manufacture from whole cloth of much of the info. Those who had that fabricated stuff shared with them deserve a bit of grudging slack perhaps. Of course it is appalling now that they went along with the sham with so little due diligence and wholly unacceptable as it is now to have them continue to tapdance and dodge critical need to do their mea culpas and take a proper anti-war stance (Hilary et al, that would be you).

[primavera]

21. Sure they did, which is to say...

... they received no credible information whatsoever implicating Iraq as a noteworthy security threat. The complete and total absence of any credible intelligence on the subject ought to have made any reasonable person wonder wtf was up. We all knew it was a crock here and said so loudly, along with millions of protestors around te world who said the same thing, I'm supposed to believe that members of congress and their professional staffs weren't able to figure out what anyone with half a brain was able to recognize instantly? Sorry, but Dems who supported the war in the absence of credible intelligence are guilty of hypocrisy in criticizing now what they bloody well knew they ought to have criticized then, but were too chickenshit to stand up for sanity.

[EFerrari]

27. Beat me. But. it would also be insane not to use this op

wouldn't it? I mean, if the Dems start chestbeating, that shifts the focus from MonkeyBoy's dishonesty.

I want a personal letter of apology from Feinstein, detailing how she is going to use her war profits for community service. It will never happen.

[devinsgram]

59. Basically, they all knew it was the information was flawed,

...but they gambled with the outcome. If the war went well, it would make them look good politically. They took the chance and lost. They were thinking about themselves and the hell with the American people.

[readmylips]

57. Exactly, Cheney cooked up two versions of the report....

The Senate saw what Cheney wanted the administration to see; lies, deception and incompetence. Don't give the bastard one inch of credibility.

[Nordic65]

34. He made the decision to invade. Period. End of argument

It really is very, very, simple

Whatever the President has to say today, one simple fact is indisputable:

HE MADE THE DECISION TO INVADE IRAQ

The basis for that decision has later turned out to be bogus

The consequences of that mistake has been catastrophic

He has no one to blame but himself

[Canuckistanian]

81. Good point. He could have stopped it with a word.

PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER

itty bitty brain

[Media_Lies_Daily]

55. Congress got the NIE Summary which left out a great deal of.....

...information that would/should have deterred most, if not all of the Dems, and some Repubs, from voting for the war against Iraq.

Basically, Congress got what the NeoCons wanted them to see.

If you ask any Dem Congressperson why he or she voted for going to war, I think you'll find that they relied on the idea that Herr Busch would never lie about such a major issue. In short, they trusted him to tell them the truth about the reasons for going to war, despite his long history of being totally truth-challenged. The vast bulk of GOP Congresspersons, despite personal misgivings, voted for going to war because they knew it was GOP political suicide to do otherwise.

[Democat]

10. If you don't support the president lying about war, you are the left wing

That sounds like a great strategy. Tell the majority of Americans that they are the left wing because they expect honesty from the president.

That should show up the 30% support he has, but how about expanding that?

[leftchick]

31. excellent stratergery!

That is exactly what I thought when I read that. I know of many repukes who now hate this war. To have the chimp call them leftys?? Ha! bring it on!

:popcorn:

[cliss]

12. Talk is cheap.

Does Bush really believe he will turn the tide with talk? And the way he talks. He stutters, stammers, can't get a single point across. His jaw swivels back and forth.

Every time they trot him out, his ratings go down.

Do they REALLY want to do this?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

61. Exactly, I love his speeches, because they only hurt him. I just wish

he'd do more in prime time, so the full effect of his idiotic blathering is felt by many more citizens.

However, the WH is fully aware of his ineffectiveness and trot him our midday to allow for sound bites on the evening news. MKJ

[kurth]

13. Yeah. Clinton made him do it!

The Liar-in-Chief excels at what he does, which is LYING.

[Supersedeas]

62. but Clinton thought...and Clinton said...and Clinton is the precedent--

and Clinton was impeached for lying about sex -- * lied about justifications for WAR.

[krkaufman]

14. Dem accusations that he led the nation into war on false pretenses.."

Hey jackasses (i.e. Mssrs Stevenson & Cloud), it's not just Democrats who are pointing-out that the Chimp led us to war on lies. Most everyone around now knows this (57% in a recent poll), with only die-hard Republicans and the uninformed (i.e. journalists) not getting it right!

EDIT: Unbelievable! This from the end of the article:

The White House's effort to stop the erosion is centered on defining the president's critics as Democrats who voted for the war based on the same intelligence Mr. Bush saw but have switched positions, often under pressure from their party's left wing.

Well it's awfully kind of the writers of the article to then frame the criticism of Bush's misleading the nation to war as coming from Democrats.

[thecrow]

15. Like my Mom used to say.....

"Your most precious asset is your reputation.
It's much easier to lose it than to repair it."

Bye bye **

[Skittles]

18. again, here is point blank why a comeback ain't happening

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/bushs-approval-ratings_b_10291.html

[symbolman]

19. Maybe I should send him a free copy of my film

"Rove's War" featuring the COMPLETE Definitive Chronology of the Plamegate outing, just to remind him that there are FACTS INVOLVED and no amount of BULLSHIT is going to change that.

HE LIED TO CONGRESS. HE Deceived them with FALSE INTEL. They signed on without access to REAL INTEL.

Tenet LIED. Cheney INTIMIDATED the CIA that was LEFT. They GUTTED the CIA and everyone who had integrity LEFT. BOLTON had a Rogue INTEL unit in the State Dept. Rumsfeld created the OSP, MORE FALSE INTEL.

SLAM DUNK INDEED.

When the COngress asked for MORE info NOT believing the NIE (since the State Dept put a BIG 'THIS IS BULLSHIT' Section in there) Tenet handed Congress a WHITE PAPER written by who else but the WHIG GROUP.

They were DUPED, WE were DUPED, BUSH IS A LIAR and MOst of his staff are TRAITORS and should be In PRISON.

Anyone wants the facts go to http://www.takebackthemedia.com and get the TRUTH. And the TRUTH cannot be HIDDEN.

[radfringe]

22. basically

if you don't drink the kook-aid then you are now a hypocrite? I thought critics were unpatriotic?

:sigh: same bush*t different label

[maddezmom]

23. Bush to swing back at Democrats on Iraq criticism (on Veteran;'s Day)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will use a Veterans Day speech on Friday to fight back against Democratic charges that the White House misused intelligence to gain support for the Iraq war, administration officials said.

"The president is going to directly take on the false attacks that Democratic leaders have been making," a senior administration official told Reuters.

Democrats in recent weeks have been accusing the White House of manipulating intelligence on Iraq and leaking classified information to discredit critics of the war.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted last month for obstructing justice, perjury and lying after a two-year investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051111/pl_nm/bush_iraq_dc

:mad:

[H2O]

24. Veterans Day

Using Veterans's Day as a political ploy. How typical.

[salin]

26. Good luck with that.

It will be a retread of 'everyone else thought the same thing... including clinton (who didn't take us to war)'; and ...'tie iraq to al qaeda ' (despite the published news that intel never supported this, but of course he doesn't read news so that point would be past him); and... 'we are winning in Iraq the recent elections prove that' (ignore all the high profile political assassinations in Iraq and the not-in-the-last-throes insurgency).... As if repeating the same themes, in simplistic language, will suddenly "restore his credibility."

Good luck with that W. Ten to one, like most of your public appearances that are made to 'boost' your image or one of your causes.. it will lead to more criticisms, and be followed by yet another drop in the polls. But - you then you said that you don't care about polls.... (ya, right!)

[leftchick]

33. don't forget to insert the smirks and giggles

as he talks about death and terrorists. It is extremely disconcerting and I am sure a lot of repukes are catching on to it.

I would be will to be the chimperor** loses his last remnant of clothing today. I believe I will even watch!

:popcorn:

[salin]

44. report back, please

I won't be able to check back til the evening - would love to read about the real-time speech (that is commentary on his little appearance as it happens) and the reactions to it.

[Eurobabe]

29. Good luck, you f'ing maroon!

[Sugar Smack]

30. My own interpretation of "direct refutation" means to

answer questions AS THEY ARE ASKED YOU, backing up your argument publicly without pre-written speeches. Bush doesn't have the wherewithall to do that. He simply can't think. He doesn't know who he is any more.

I really am enjoying myself these days.

[0007]

32. Over and over and over do they say the same thing like;

"I point out that some of the critics today believed themselves in 2002 that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, said Thursday at a news briefing. "They stated that belief, and they voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq because they believed Saddam Hussein posed a dangerous threat to the American people. For those critics to ignore their own past statements, exposes the hollowness of their current attacks."

They fail to talk about Judith Miller and Ahmed Chalabi and the characters that created the atmosphere for invasion.

[rodeodance]

35. Bush to swing back at Democrats (will use Vets Day speech to do so)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051111/pl_nm/bush_iraq_dc_2;_ylt=AgZai8PlBbkh4YRb69_74Q4Gw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw
Bush to swing back at Democrats

1 hour, 10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President George W. Bush will use a Veterans Day speech on Friday to fight back against Democratic charges that the White House misused intelligence to gain support for the Iraq war, administration officials said.

"The president is going to directly take on the false attacks that Democratic leaders have been making," a senior administration official told Reuters.


..."I point out that some of the critics today believed, themselves, in 2002 that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. They stated that belief, and they voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq," said Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, on Thursday.

"For those critics to ignore their own past statements, exposes the hollowness of their current attacks," he said.

[Missy M]

36. They believed it because he was the one who told them.

[Greeby]

37. BRING.IT.ON

Hope you fall flat on your coke-addled face, Chimpy :evilgrin:

[rodeodance]

38. I really wish he would the speech to honor all soldiers--and not for his

own political purposes.

[rodeodance]

41. I wonder if Ricky Santorium will be at his side?

[Qanisqineq]

39. oh yes

use Veteran's Day too. Boy, he sure likes to use and abuse and hide behind the troops for everything.

[IndianaGreen]

40. What a disgusting way to use a day to honor veterans!

I don't have words to describe my disgust with the AWOL-in-Chief!

[acmavm]

42. How ironic. pResident AWOL using Veteran's Day for his own ends.

Why am I not surprised?

[IndianaGreen]

43. This brings dishonor to all veterans, dead and alive!

Having a President use this day for partisan purposes is the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed. This is as offensive as having Bush piss on the graves of the fallen, or that homophobic Kansas preacher crash veterans' memorial services with his "God Hates Fags" signs.

[rodeodance]

46. Vets Day/Armistice Day/Federal Holiday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veteran%27s_Day
Veterans Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.



There are 24.9 million military veterans in the United States.

Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice ending World War I, is the anniversary of the ending of World War I. In the United States it is celebrated as a federal holiday on 11 November. All major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month with the German signing of the Armistice. Armistice Day was first commemorated by President Wilson in 1919, and many states made it a legal holiday. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 inviting all Americans to observe the day, and made it a legal holiday nationwide in 1938. The holiday has been observed annually on November 11 since that date - first as Armistice Day, later as Veterans Day - except for a brief period when it was celebrated on the fourth Monday of October

[rodeodance]

47. "There are 24.9 million military veterans in the United States"

[lanlady]

45. just another p.r. operation

Don't they get it? Americans want their presidents to DO something REAL, not engage in non-stop smoke and mirrors.

[rodeodance]

48. the image stinks.

[rodeodance]

49. It would be wonderful if the Vets stood up at the speech and say--enough

is enough. This is our day--don't take it away for your own political purposes.

[wordpix]

54. yes, vets, let's hear from you---in the middle of the speech!!!

[rodeodance]

50. Nominated

[all.of.me]

51. "president's personal integrity"

that's quite the phrase........

:eyes:

[wordpix]

56. it's an oxyMORON

[Guaranteed]

52. IIRC, the issue is that he DELIBERATELY USED BAD INTELLIGENCE. nt

[Jacobin]

53. How do you turn horseshit into strawberry ice cream?

I'm standing by to watch.

[wordpix]

58. He's quite credible. We can always believe he'll help his A$$ociate$,

wreck the environment, give away public lands to corporations, "stay the course" in Iraq with his disastrous "policies," and venture further into Mideast mayhem using our armed forces. He will consistently deny health care to all Americans, try to end the Roe v Wade decision, Social Security and anything other government program that benefits the poor and middle class.

"President Bush is beginning a new effort to shore up his credibility and cast his critics as hypocrites."

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

60. Nixon had his "Checkers" speech. Now Chimp has his "Tarn-X" speech.

:rofl:

[Brooklyn Michael]

63. "defining the president's critics..."

I said it before, and I'll say it again.

If someone lies to me, and I believe them, then afterwards I realized they lied to me, am I not entitled to say "If I knew you'd been lying to me - or even not giving me the full story - my decision would've been different"?


Those in Congress that voted for the war - and I'll even include the Republicans on this one - DID NOT see the same intelligence that Bush and oh, say, the White House Iraq Group saw.

They saw the intelligence that the administration cherry-picked to show them, to make their case.

[Rhiannon12866]

64. CNN: Bush to take on critics of his case for Iraq war

'Campaign-style' strategy to deny manipulation of intelligence planned

Friday, November 11, 2005 Posted: 1512 GMT (2312 HKT)

President Bush will respond Friday to accusations that his administration manipulated intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to justify the war, a senior administration official said.

Bush plans to rebut his critics at a Veterans Day event in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania. About 2,500 people are expected, including veterans and their families as well as members of the state's congressional delegation.

Bush will talk about the war on terror and plans to "directly take on some of these false attacks that have been recently brought up by some Democratic leaders," the official said.

National security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters Thursday that the thrust of Bush's speech "is to continue to talk to the American people about the war on terror, the nature of the enemy, what is at stake (and) the importance that we see it through to success."

He also will discuss how U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan can help win the war on terror and advance democracy, Hadley said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/11/bush.intel/index.html

[natrat]

65. fuck you bush you scumbag pig

[truthpusher]

66. Bush to swing back at Democrats

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111100288_pf.html

Bush to swing back at Democrats
---------------------
Reuters
Friday, November 11, 2005; 5:07 AM
---------------------
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will use a Veterans Day speech on Friday to fight back against Democratic charges that the White House misused intelligence to gain support for the Iraq war, administration officials said.

"The president is going to directly take on the false attacks that Democratic leaders have been making," a senior administration official told Reuters.

(snip)

complete story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111100288_pf.html

[derby378]

67. Someone predicted that on CBS earlier this morning...

:popcorn:

[ewagner]

68. Rove is back in charge

there isn't any doubt about it.

[skooooo]

69. Bring it on...

...cokehead.

[sinkingfeeling]

72. OK, AWOL, why don't we have a complete independent investigation

into why we're in Iraq? And why don't you and your administration take an oath before you start talking? And let's subpoena all the documents you made your false statements from? And then, dear leader, we'll decide who lies.

[raysr]

78. Like in a op-ed I read

today, when credibility is lost, it's gone!

[Triana]

70. "Democrats who voted for the war based on the same intelligence..."

...that is they voted for the war based on the same LIES the bu$h admin told everyone: Congress, The American People - everyone - and THEY and we have long since discovered that we were LIED to by the bu$h admin.

The DIFFERENCE is that DEMOCRATS have the integrity to say 'we were wrong' to vote for invading Iraq -knowing what we know now. Does the bu$h White House have any integrity? Since they so obviously LIED this country into a war, I think not. There's a STARK contrast here...and DEMOCRATS had BETTER step up to the plate and start pointing that out.

[IndianaGreen]

79. Dennis Kucinich and Russ Feingold voted against the war

most of the others voted for IWR on the basis of the DLC's advice to vote for IWR to get the issue off the table and concentrate on economic issues for the Congressional elections of 2002.

This was hotly debated in DU and elsewhere at the time, and we haven't forgotten who sided with us against the war and who sold out for crass political reasons.

The problem with Bush's latest salvo against all Democrats is that in blaming everyone else for his own failures and lies, he has chosen this solemn occasion, Veterans Day, to hide behind the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform to push a partisan defense of his dismal record.

[AzDar]

71. Chickenhawks shouldn't even be allowed out of their pens on Veteran's Day!

[VaYallaDawg]

73. Yawn.

Think I'll go rake the leaves instead of watching/listening to the chimp.

[ewagner]

74. When?

When is he scheduled to speak?

I have some wood to split...if I watch him for 5 minutes, I'll have enough adrenaline to split maybe 2 cords of hardwood.

[VaYallaDawg]

76. Can't find any reference to time of his speech

It may be buried in the NYT article - I'm not a registered user of NYT so I don't know. Doesn't matter too much, I don't think either of us will miss anything of substance, and leaf raking (wood chopping) is a lot more productive use of time anyway.

[WinkyDink]

75. It's all just selling. Not truth, just advertising.

It's totally amazing to me how all those men and women can lie, lie, lie, essentially being traitors to their oath of office and to their constituents.

Democratic response: "Sure, we saw the same information---AFTER Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld MADE IT UP!"!!

[hippiegranny]

77. Perfect. What a wonderful way to honor our nation's Vets.

Typical. Hypocritical. GOP. Horseshit.

[The_Casual_Observer]

80. How does a cheap shot speech restore crediblility?

Show me the money.

[go west young man]

82. All we have to do is sink this bozo one more time and he's dust.

Its time to put the chimp out to pasture once and for all. I don't know about the everyone else but I'm feeling invigorated. Keep up the good work DU patriots.

[TexasLawyer]

83. restore credibility...

let's see, he'll at least need a personality transplant in order to get rid of his current bullying and pathologically lying persona;

AND a time machine to go back and NOT make all the lies, crimes and blunders.

[Tight_rope]

84. EVEN IF BUSH LEARNS TO RIDE HIS "BIKE"...

Nothing the Chimp does will impress me. He'll always be a Chimp that stayed in the WH.

[teryang]

85. Image tarnished, * seeks to restore crebility- deja vu

This is getting old. How many times have we heard this advertising jingo?

Is Rove distracted or did he give his old notes to some aide? Go into my desk drawer, you'll find something.

[superconnected]

86. sure right after Pat Robertson restores his

Come to think of it, these guys never had credibility.

At least they figured out he doesn't have credibility.

[54anickel]

87. Sheesh, ya can't restore something you never had. Give me a break NYT.

Are you trying to imply he once had credibility? When will you stop reporting the rumors, innuendos and "politics" and start digging for the damned truth that is right under your stinking nose. But nooooo, it's much better if you cast the truth as unfair criticism and partisan attacks. :grr:

[XemaSab]

88. Credibility is like virginity,

you can only lose it once.

Or, credibility is like a bubble...one prick and it's gone.