WP: Bush tries to win over war-weary nation

[Mark E. Smith]

Five years after 9/11, his capacity to move public is weakened

President Bush's Oval Office speech last night was the culmination of two weeks
of efforts to rally the nation behind his policies and presidency by summoning the
memory of Sept. 11, 2001. Five years after that indelible day, however, this
president's capacity to move the public is severely diminished.

There were echoes of the language and logic Bush invoked five years ago when he
united a striken nation looking to him for both comfort and leadership. But he was
speaking to a different nation last night.

Setbacks in Iraq have soured a majority of Americans on that mission. Falsely
optimistic predictions of progress have undermined the administration's credibility.
A majority of Americans question fundamental elements of this president's
argument, including his contention that Iraq is the central front in the campaign
against terrorism.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14777090/

Bush's shenanigans over the last two weeks are not being well reviewed.

Oh, and do the poll.

[rodeodance]

1. ummm.. not a flattering headline for the WH (from the WPost).

[goddess40]

2. lying will do that

His lies are catching up to him, finally! If American's weren't so stupid he would have been out of office in '04 - or never in at all. Wouldn't the world have benefited by that!

[habitual]

3. link issues...

link is to msnbc (not wp) and doesn't work.

[goddess40]

4. the link has expired - or maybe they didn't like the poll numbers?

anyway it doesn't this is the message I got
"Page not found
Our web servers cannot find the page or file you asked for.
The link you followed may be broken or expired."

it's on an MSNBC page but there's only links to other stories.

[Mark E. Smith]

5. I fixed it.

Sorry.

[goddess40]

6. Thanks, nt

[Felinity]

7. Page 2

"Ross K. Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, said Bush retains the unique capacity to lead the nation through the commemoration of the 2001 attacks. "The speeches he's given have been meticulously crafted to avoid any obvious political message," he said. "But seen in an overall way, they reinforce in the mind of people his uniqueness as president and the fact that we're still in a dangerous situation, and in times of danger people inevitably rally behind the president."

I must have dropped 50 IQ points overnight. I thought everything Bush said was political. As for his uniqueness as President, would that be

uniquely incompetent?

uniquely no-really-elected?

uniquely hidebound by some manic-induced delusion of direct moral authority from God?

uniquely spending 4 hours a day exercising?

uniquely lacking in compassion?

uniquely hypocritical?

Who is this Ross K. Baker guy and how did he get a PhD?

Just asking.

[izzie]

8. I think time will pass us by

we need to move on to what we need in this country and it is not war. I will not be around but it is time we looked to how the world is going to change and we will not be the super power and pay some mind to how this society will be able to work. High oil cost, others moving into world power, our intra structure falling apart, paying taxes for medical things we never see. All those things while Bush is paying with his army. It is all a shame. We had better get with it and soon. Bush is slowing us down with trying to take us back 100's of years to some world stage of glory he sees for him self.

[Punkingal]

9. This quote from Tony Snow in the article is absurd

"I am not so sure that the views are chiseled in stone," said White House press secretary Tony Snow. "There's been a lot of debate -- one side that may not have been fully represented in ours. . . . It seems that on a lot of things, people may not have fully understood the approach the president took and his thinking."

Do they seriously think they don't get enough time to explain their position? Are they dumb enough to think they can still convince people they are right? If he believe what he said, they really are living in fantasy land in that White House.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

11. If I understood bush's thinking, I would have to go to the Betty Ford

Clinic, or to the psych ward. :scared:

[rodeodance]

14. Repugs whin and cry a lot--they play the victim card over and over1

[charlottelouise]

16. Understanding the approach

But we do understand the approach -- that's the problem.

On edit -- that is, I assume that the approach is to lie to the American people, start an aggressive war, allow crony corporations to profit from that war, and establish a military presence strong wenough to contol access to oil. Am I getting it???

[niceypoo]

10. People are sick of 911

people are getting tired of the endless fear mongering

[hatrack]

12. Tries . . . and fails nt

.

[kskiska]

13. I remember how at the beginning of this "war"

Karen Hughes and her pals were in charge of boosting and maintaining the public's interest in their adventure. They planned all sorts of devices such as concerts, etc. I guess you can put lipstick on a pig and call it Monique, but it's still a pig.

[Dervill Crow]

15. The emperor is nekkid.

What did you think of President Bush's Sept. 11 prime-time address? * 35824 responses

His speech was inspirational and will help unite the country.
17%

It was just more of the same. We need deeds, not words, right now.
80%

I'm not sure.
3.1%

[cliss]

17. and just think!!!!

We're ONLY WEEKS away from an election. The Midterm elections.....(rubs hands together)

Heh heh he:smoke: