Is Harry Reid the first person willing to confront Bush face to face on Iraq?

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Bush Challenged on Iraq
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, April 19, 2007

Something we're not allowed to see in public happened yesterday in the White House's Cabinet Room: President Bush was challenged and got angry.

There were no pyrotechnics, but according to multiple reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid compared Iraq to Vietnam at one point in a closed door meeting with Bush. Specifically, Reid suggested that Bush was pursuing a lost cause at the cost of American troops in order to protect his legacy.

Bush's reaction: He was "visibly angered" says the New York Times; he "bristled" according to the Associated Press. And he "denied this forcefully, after which Mr. Reid touched his arm in a gesture of friendliness," write the Wall Street Journal.

Could this have been the first time Bush has come face to face with someone willing to confront him so bluntly on the signature issue of his presidency?

We don't know. Bush is well known for living inside a protective bubble where accommodating staffers keep opposing views -- and those who hold them -- at bay.

It's certainly never happened where the public can see -- and judge the president's reaction for itself....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/19/BL2007041901053.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[barb162]

1. I believe Colin Powell did that a few years back

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I seem to recall that, too. nt