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kskiska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-02-06 10:07 PM
Original message
WP: White House Opens Door To Dissenters
Aversion to Criticism Appears to Be Fading

Saturday, June 3, 2006; A01

When retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey criticized the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war three years ago, he was lambasted as an armchair general and deemed an adversary by the Pentagon. So even McCaffrey was surprised to find himself in the Oval Office this week giving President Bush his thoughts on Iraq.

A White House long accused of squelching internal dissent and ignoring outside viewpoints has been reaching out lately to prominent figures who have disagreed with the president. Bush just hired a Treasury secretary who opposed his policy on global warming and a press secretary who dismissed his domestic agenda as timid and listless.

How much such moves reflect a genuine opening up for an insular White House remains uncertain. Symbolically, at least, the White House is eager to rebut the longstanding public impression of a president in a bunker listening only to like-minded advisers. Substantively, Bush has hardly signaled a major course change in the direction of his presidency, and skeptics recall past instances when nonconformists within the administration were shut out.

(snip)

To disaffected insiders such as Wilkerson, Bush has seemed powerfully indifferent to alternative views or shielded from them altogether. First-term figures such as Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman and Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill ultimately left frustrated. Skeptical assessments of Iraq's weapons programs were largely disregarded before the 2003 invasion.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201700.html

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Kerrytravelers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-02-06 10:11 PM
Response to Original message
1. Wonder when Cindy Sheehan's invite to the Oval office will be arriving?
:shrug: Dissenters are now welcomed, right?
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arch_liberal Donating Member (39 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 07:49 AM
Response to Reply #1
11. Or the Dixie Chicks?
This is all just window dressing, THe "Great Decider" takes his orders from the Rummy-Cheney-Rice-Rove Cabal
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CoffeeCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-02-06 10:15 PM
Response to Original message
2. Oh, gosh by golly geek whillikers!
I used to think that our pResident was a narrow-minded, petulant, defensive little twit.

NOW...after reading this article...I'm just not sure!

Maybe the Grinch has a heart, after all.

Then again, maybe the Post will stop taking journalistic marching orders from the
White House PR people.

How many more of these "Bush has a new personality!" stories are we going to see
from the MSM?

Damn, his handlers are working over time to re-invent this nimrod.

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niyad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-02-06 10:18 PM
Response to Original message
3. so, who here on DU got THEIR invitations? and what about schott ritter,
joe wilson, etc?
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rusty_parts2001 Donating Member (728 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-02-06 10:29 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Why doesn't he at least answer John Conyers' letters
.......oh, I get it, he waiting for the subpoenas after the 1st of the year.
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Brigid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-02-06 10:52 PM
Response to Original message
5. So . . .
When do Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert get their invitations to the WH? And Michael Moore?
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w4rma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 03:44 AM
Response to Original message
6. Who cares what a treasury secretary thinks about global warming. (nt)
Edited on Sat Jun-03-06 03:44 AM by w4rma
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shadowknows69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 04:23 AM
Response to Original message
7. 3 years into it and he's finally getting advice on Iraq
Heckuva Job Bushie but too little too fucking late you murdering fuck.
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bklyncowgirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 05:37 AM
Response to Original message
8. New White House Chief of staff puts nice friendly curtains on the windows.
They may be listening but I doubt very much they're taking any of these people's advice. I imagine the new Treasury Secretary will soon be a very frustrated man, wonder if he'll stick it out for the full term?
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ixion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 06:54 AM
Response to Original message
9. uh, McCaffrey, ex 'drug czar' is an example of a 'dissenter'?
puh-leeze. :eyes:

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leftchick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 07:16 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. every time I see him on TV he defends the war
he does blame bush handling at times but this guy actually believes Iraq can be won! Real dissent there eh? :eyes:
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JusticeForAll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 08:02 AM
Response to Original message
12. Excellent! Helen Thomas is back in the front row again!
and is being called on daily to ask questions!

Oh wait...nm.

:sarcasm: :cry:
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cliss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
13. Why am I not buying this?
In one of my business classes, the instructor made a point about leaders:

"A company is only as good as its management"

The instructor kept hammering away at this, all through the term. The rationale was, you can have the best people in the world working for you, but if the management is inept, worthless or just plain stupid (like Bush) your company could go bankrupt.

Why? Because they make the decisions.
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FreeStateDemocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 01:36 PM
Response to Original message
14. PR spin to prop up sinking popularity with MSM banging the drums=pure BS
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depakid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 07:45 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. More propaganda from the Post
amazes me that so many people keep buying it.
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Doctor_J Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 04:32 PM
Response to Original message
15. I wish they'd stop printing WH press releases
it really is beneath them
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Eugene Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 08:05 PM
Response to Original message
17. Window dressing.
It is one thing to let critics into the room, it is another to actually listen to them.
Shrubya's appearance at the Council of Foreign Relations and the gathering of Secretaries
of State show that he will readly use these experts as props meant to lend credibility
to policies he has already decided.

As long as Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are in the White House, nothing will change.
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Cocoa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 08:40 PM
Response to Original message
18. again?
:eyes:
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MarinCoUSA Donating Member (783 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-03-06 09:16 PM
Response to Original message
19. Rove stinks from the head down and this smells like Rove.
A little fake and dodge pr going down here sez I.

Just like in 2000 when Bush very publicly refused to meet the Log Cabin repukes and then after the double rinse spin news cycle was over, he quietly reversed himself and met with them. Who got the real message on that? And who inoculated himself against charges of bigotry ta boot?
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Supersedeas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 10:26 PM
Response to Original message
20. UNCERTAIN how such move reflect genuine opening but makes headline anyway
the Whorington post at its whoring best. Pure speculation tilted to make the Bush Regime look good...the Librraaal media strikes again.
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The_Casual_Observer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 11:11 PM
Response to Original message
21. I'll believe it when they invite a real dissenter.
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 11:54 PM
Response to Original message
22. Last week I sent him an email asking him to stop persecuting GLBTs
Think I'll get an invite?
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superconnected Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 11:58 PM
Response to Original message
23. Political posturing
His ratings are so low, he's acting like he cares.

Expect a list of things he's been critisized for to be checked off as he holds his photo ops.

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