WP: President Shifts Argument, Catches Critics Off Guard

[FreeStateDemocrat]

By Michael Abramowitz and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page A01

With a series of forceful speeches on terrorism and a dramatic announcement that he has sent top-tier terrorism suspects to the Guantanamo Bay prison, President Bush this week has demonstrated anew the power of even a weakened commander in chief to set the terms of national debate.

All week, the White House has made plain its desire to refocus the attention of voters this fall away from a troubled and unpopular war in Iraq in favor of Bush's vision of a worldwide struggle against Islamic radicalism and terrorism. Yesterday, Bush sought to turn a legal defeat at the Supreme Court into a political opportunity.

By challenging Congress to immediately give the administration authority to try notorious al-Qaeda figures such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed by military commissions, he shifted the argument with Democratic critics of national security policies and competence. As Bush framed the choice, anyone against his proposal would be denying him necessary tools to protect American security.

His success in catching much of Washington by surprise showed that a president who polls show has his political back to the wall still has formidable tools: the ability to make well-timed course corrections on policy, dominate the news and shape the capital's agenda in the weeks before Election Day. (contd)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090602098.html

[underpants]

1. I knew it- even as he admits breaking the law AGAIN he wins

because he is just so wiley that one.

Okay Mr.Rove I wrote it can I have my press pass back now?

[rodeodance]

2. As much as I hate to admit this--i do think he took the bully pulpit and

ran with it (declassifing data for a political speech--all legal no doubt according to the Justice Dept that works for him instead of for the people). yup, it pulled a good one. Now, let watch the Repug congress give him what he wants. Dems --are you awake NOW?

[Tellurian]

7. Well, that "spin" would work if nobody's paying attention..

AND the WH has been dubbed LIARS!

They have violated the PUBLIC TRUST over and over again..
They put us in a useless war by LYING that we are threatened and
a preemptive strike is necessary for our survival?

Do you think the public so STUPID they dismiss all they already
know regarding the rampant lies and correction in this White House?

Dream On...The deeper they dig; the better we like it!
They violate the first Rule of Common Sense:

When you're in a Hole, the first thing you do is STOP DIGGING!! :hi:

[eShirl]

3. aren't they supposed to label opinion pieces as such?

[Demeter]

4. Bush Can Tap Dance All He Wants

He can confess to all his crimes in true Revival tent style, but he's still guilty as sin, and we must see to it that he pays for his crimes at home and abroad.

[Zensea]

5. Shifts argument?!?!?!? It's the same damn argument

Give up liberties in order to protect "freedom."
I read that speech carefully.
The whole thing is full of lies and screwed up premises.
The main one being that all this stuff had to be done in secret without due process.
I hope there are some people in positions of power (like maybe the ones that are supposed to do this stuff -- senators and representatives) who call him out on this.
It's also the same strategy as before - an attempt to scare people into being silent and scare elected officials into being silent because they want to get re-elected.
Demagoguery, pure and simple.

[CJCRANE]

6. Didn't catch me off guard.

I still think he's an idiot.

[MrModerate]

8. By "shifting the argument," WaPo means . . .

Not lying about secret prisons anymore. By "catching critics off guard," they mean the sense of surprise that Schimpanski has admitted lying previously. The net effect? Approximately zero. It'll all be lost in the bwah-bwah-bwah that's bleating from the dissembler-in-chief's piehole this week.

WaPo seems determined to find some way to make this goniff appear presidential -- why, I'm not sure.

Whether the bwah-bwah moves anyone but the committed base is yet to be seen. I don't think it'll be very effective -- although the MSM has started to refer to Bush's approval ratings in the "low 40s," when in fact the average of leading polls is several points lower. This in response to the slight improvement from when the average was around 32.

I think what bothers me the most about the MSM is their sheer, unadulterated laziness. First they Google, then they transcribe. Nice work if you can get it (and are incapable of any other sort of job). The Internet has ruined the press in this country, accelerating a trend toward infotainment and irrelevancy that's been underway for decades.