Suggestion That the President Misled the Public Over War's Progress Is RebuttedThe White House intensified efforts yesterday to limit the political damage caused by a new book portraying the Bush administration as divided to the point of dysfunction over the war in Iraq, as top officials took to network talk shows to rebut the book's suggestion that President Bush has misled the nation about how dire the situation is there.
Counselor Dan Bartlett, a top aide to Bush, said that despite assertions in "State of Denial," by Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward, the president has been forthright with the public about the challenges in Iraq.
"What's interesting about this book is that he doesn't connect his own dots," Bartlett said of Woodward on ABC's "This Week." In fact, "he references throughout the book time after time after time where the president was being presented with the bad information, was pushing the internal process to make sure we were adapting to the enemy, and he was sharing this news with the American people."
Bartlett appeared on three network news shows as part of a larger administration effort to push back against criticism being generated by the book, which draws a portrait of Bush growing increasingly isolated in his determination to stay the course in Iraq while his inner circle rejects recommendations to change direction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100100918.html