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Tuesday, October 14, 2003 |
The Many Faces of Bush
The AP today published a disconcerting picture of Bush today as he spoke at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the new PR move to spin the efforts in Iraq the way the Administration wants it to be viewed, which would be in a much more positive light than it should be. The photo shows the profile of Bush at the forefront of a large yellowish-orange globe, displaying Bush as a type of a saint, graced with a heavenly halo. Part of the PR campaign or happenstance? Hmmmm..... I wonder. (Picture forthcoming.)
Part 2 of this story is the fact that Bush went behind the back of the regular White House Press to answer questions about Iraq to those television media reporters friendlier to the Administration. The AP report can be read here.
If Bush knows what’s good for him, then he will put his money where his mouth is and get serious about frog-marching the senior administrators who leaked Joe Wilson’s wife’s name. In his article "Bush Had Better Take This Leak Seriously," John Podesto, the chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress and a visiting law professor at Georgetown University, who also served as a chief of staff under President Clinton, blamed the administration's handling of this incident as "at best curious and at worst irresponsible." He elaborated:
For example, his aides initially told The Post that the president had no plans to ask his staffers whether they played a role in revealing the name of an undercover officer married to Wilson. His national security adviser, on national television, treated the matter as unsubstantiated press speculation rather than the grave security breach it was. His chief of staff and White House counsel waited more than 11 hours after notice from the Justice Department and more than two days after the story broke in The Post to instruct the staff to preserve records and e-mails concerning the matter. And, perhaps most disturbing, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ed Gillespie, was dispatched to virtually every cable outlet in the country to further discredit Wilson, a strategy one Republican aide on Capitol Hill referred to as "slime and defend."
Furthermore, Podesto urged Bush to do the following:
[T]he president should make clear to his White House political operatives, the RNC and friends of the administration that they are to cease and desist from the attacks on Wilson and his wife. Wilson served our country with distinction under both Republican and Democratic administrations. His only offense appears to be that he told the truth. He does not deserve the treatment he is getting, and further efforts to malign and intimidate him would raise serious questions of obstruction of justice.
Josh at Talking Points Memo linked to this -- In response to President Bush telling the press on Tuesday that he doesn't "have any idea" whether the senior administration officials who blew a CIA operative's cover will ever be found, Move On has created a clever affidavit that you can sign that states that you did not reveal Valerie Plame’s name to the press. Hopefully, signing this will help Bush see that "if he just asked his staff to sign a legally binding affidavit confirming that they weren't involved, and referred anyone who wouldn't to the FBI, it's possible he could flush out the perpetrators in a day."
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