Bumiller: Bush Is Business as Usual Despite Party Grumbles

[Rose Siding]

Inside the White House, the staff is exhausted and the mood is defiant. Republicans are clamoring for a new chief of staff, the West Wing just cut its losses on a deal that would have given a Dubai company control of some terminal operations at six American ports, and President Bush's approval rating is at a record low.

But senior staff members insist that Mr. Bush is in good spirits, that calls from his party to inject new blood into the White House make him ever more stubborn to keep the old, and that he has become so inured to outside criticism that he increasingly tunes it out. There is no sense of crisis, they say, even over rebellious Republicans in Congress, because the White House has been in almost constant crisis since Sept. 11, 2001, and Mr. Bush has never had much regard for Congress anyway.

"You know, people say to me, my buddies in Texas, 'How do you handle all this stuff?' " Mr. Bush said at a gathering of newspaper editors Friday in Washington. "You know, it's just after a while you get used to it."
.....
"They have a transmitter but not a listening device," said one well-known Republican with close ties to the administration who gets calls from White House staff members. "They'll say, 'What are you hearing, what's going on?' You tell them things aren't good on the Hill, you've got problems here, you've got problems there, or 'I was in Detroit and boy did I get an earful.' And their answer is, 'Everybody's just reading the headlines, we've got to get our message out better.' There's denial going on, and it starts at the top."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/politics/12bush.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Apparently, it's easier for bush to take his failures in stride than it is for the rest of us.

[Erika]

1. Bush did what he was supposed to do - destroy our country

Transfer the wealth from the working class to the rich.

That's all he was ever about. The elitists take care of themselves.

W's legacy will be turning our economy into a war driven economy and destroying our middle class while turning this country into a third world nation.

[truthisfreedom]

2. propagenda at its finest.

he's toast.

[wake.up.america]

3. This is extremely scary. He must figure he does not did these guys.

[n2doc]

4. He's been a failure his whole life

I mean, if he couldn't handle being a failure, he would have done us all a favor and exited this world a long time ago. Being a failure is what W does best! (appologies to Tigger)

[patricia92243]

5. Based on these type of facts, I honestly believe he will not be allowed to

finish his term. If he only had a few months to go, everybody would just hold their breath and wait. As things stand, it is three more years.

His party will just quietly let him go home. Especially if they lose seats in 06. THEN it is a given.

[teryang]

6. "We make history and let others react to it."

They are in desperate need of another fait accompli.

[opihimoimoi]

7. Could it possibly be that a REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR HIS REMOVAL

SOON????

That person would be a HERO to the Nation....

[leesa]

8. He's been a failure all his life...piece of cake!

[senseandsensibility]

9. I refuse to read Bumiller

who is a * propagandist with a long and sordid history of writing "love letters" to chimp. IF (and that's a big if) she did not slip her trademark propaganda into this article, it may be significant. Is the entire tone negative? I really find that hard to believe, but as I say, I can't read her. Doctor's orders.