Under Fire, Bush to Address Doubts on Iraq Policy

[MRDU]

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush on Tuesday will seek to bolster support for his policies in Iraq amid a mounting U.S. death toll and public doubts.

The president, who is in the last week of an August vacation at his Texas ranch, will travel to St. Louis to make the case for sustained involvement in Iraq despite calls to either pull out or reinforce U.S. forces, and for continued engagement in the Middle East despite new violence that has stalled the peace process.

In a speech to the American Legion, a war veterans group, "the president will talk about (how) this is a significant moment of the war on terror and that despite the difficult conditions, we will prevail," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.

<snip>

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3334782

[VolcanoJen]

1. Well, *this* ought to be amusing.

Glad to see Chimpy's willing to take a few minutes away from choppin' cedar so he can talk about our boys dying over there, where he sent them.

I'll be watching, as anyone who truly supports the troops should be,
Jennifer

[PennyLane]

2. Like my daddy used to say.........

....well, shit I reckon! Hey! This is two press conferences in less than a month. He's scared, we got him runnin'. Keep the pressure on!!

[grytpype]

3. You know what's he's going to say.

"It is worth any price to rid the Earth of that evil Saddam Hussein because he was worse than Hitler, mass graves, gassed own people. Have to be real quick on the trigger after 9-11. Progress is being made, the nations are pouring their troops into Iraq to help."

[Paschall]

4. You forgot

"The Iraqis are better off and America is safer."

Though there may be other standard ShrubCo lies I've forgotten.

ON EDIT: Oh, yeah there's this one: "I’ve been to war."

[VolcanoJen]

5. Thanks Paschall!

That's one for the bookmarks. :-)

Thanks again!
Jennifer

[LeftCoast]

6. I think this is significant.

For the 1st time they are responding to an agenda not of their making. Think about it...these guys always work by THEIR play-book. They set the story for the media. Or at least they have so far. Now they're having to defend their (mis)handling of the war before a (somewhat) more critical press.

If we can keep them putting out fires till election '04 maybe we can keep them so busy they won't have time to f*ck this country up any more.

LeftCoast

[symbolman]

7. This has been planned for awhile

he's just going to lie..

But we are working on the ARMY OF ONE Commercial and that should get his ass whistling..

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/onearmy.html

[opihimoimoi]

8. "Those, er, those terrorists, they hate freedom, they hate Peace,

They hate progress.""""


Blah blah blah

Bushy going down hill, like father like son

a one termer

[Dhalgren]

17. That commercial is the most moving

piece I've seen. Beautiful and ugly, moving and heartbreaking, I have to admitt I was choked-up watching it. Excellent work. Thank you.

[KDLarsen]

28. One word to sum up that commercial..

... and that is: "Damn"

I just got more and more furious watching it - just what the heck does Dubya think he's doing? Screwing the US into the ground, so the following administrations can use a couple of decades to pull it back out?

[joanski01]

9. Sounds like a

waste of time to me.

"Bush was not expected to announce any new policies. Nor was he expected to show any new willingness to expand U.N. authority in Iraq, a move demanded by Security Council members France, Germany and Russia as a condition for a new mandate to expand recruiting of more foreign forces to support the U.S. occupation, officials said."

[radfringe]

10. excuse alert

watch the whistle-ass duck responsibility and blame it on something else

We want answers - not excuses

[cthrumatrix]

11. Another handpicked crowd....can't this guy ever talk to the people....or

is he afraid of what he might hear back.

May be he should be presenting to the folks who have their sons/daughters in harms way. They are the ones that might have questions.

[teryang]

12. An American Legion audience

...is about the only group of old timers that he could get applause from. Most older people will vote democratic.

[yellowcanine]

26. Actually, the VFW crowd yesterday

was surprisingly cool to Rummy and Condi yesterday - and responded enthusiastically to John Kerry's speech emphasizing the shitty way veterns are being treated by Bush Inc. Is the Legion likely to be friendlier than the VFW to Bush?

[robbedvoter]

13. We're in the hunt..Stay the course...Bring it on...evildoers

Here's a letter to the editor with some truth:



> 136 American soldiers have died in Iraq since President Bush
said, "Mission Accomplished"; 71 since he said "Bring 'em on!"; 43
since Odai and Qusai officially died. Nearly 30 soldiers have died in
Iraq just since Bush went on his August vacation. 275 overall dead
since the invasion of Iraq began.
>
> CEO pay at defense contractor Lockheed Martin went up from $5.8
million in 2000 to $25.3 million in 2002. CEO pay went up at General
Dynamics from $5.7 million in 2001 to $15.2 million in 2002. It went
up at Honeywell from $12.9 million in 2000 to $45 million in 2002. It
went up from Northrop Grumman from $7.3 million in 2000 to $9.2
million in 2002. Meanwhile the Pentagon says it might have to cut the
pay of combat troops because it's a "budget buster."
>
> Enriching defense contractors at the price of compensating our
troops? Continuing in futile occupation of a Middle Eastern country
at an escalating cost of American lives? I'm no longer sure who Bush
thinks he's working for, but it doesn't appear to be the American
people or American soldiers. In fact, increasingly, I find myself in
agreement with former Vice President Al Gore, who recently
opined, "It's time to fire this President and get a new one."
>
> Dan Brown
> Title
> Address
> Phone

I agree with the poster who senses a shift. This is an amazing headline - first time on the defensive on the war (been on the economy before, but war was their shining ace in the hole)

[Mari333]

14. BLAH BLAH BLAH

Same old shite. "we are going after teera ists we have them on the run blah blah blah".
Heard it before. whistle ass.

[ixion]

15. a significant moment of the war on terror

and I wonder... how long is it going to take before the mainstream press will call whistle ass on pronouncments like this? Everytime this yokel opens his mouth, it's a significant moment in the war against one of several pet abstractions. And as we have seen through history, time and time and time again, wars against abstractions are foolish indulgences that only wind up getting a bunch of people killed, all under the dubious auspices of a catharctic concept: terror, drugs, liqour, god, etc.

*sigh*

[Minstrel Boy]

16. He's already said "Bring 'em on" -

though even now I can hardly believe it. What will be today's extemporaneous outrage? "That the best ya got? C'mon!"

[ewagner]

18. don't expect that

This is pure damage control. Expect it to be scripted down to the commas. Also expect platitudes and some kind of veiled reference to the the unpatriotic "crit-a-sizers" of the war.

It will be interesting to see if he takes a page out of Rummy's most recent playbook. Watch for references to the "on-the-ground commanders" saying they have all the troops they need and the term "dead-enders".

Anybody know what time?

[dArKeR]

19. We're going to hear something that doesn't come from the brain, heart,

or soul of the speaker. We're only going to hear words read from a teleprompter.

We need to start 'Turn off the Tele-prompter' demonstrations and have it backed up by Dem. candidates who say they will no longer read speechs from paper. They're going to talk to the audiences.

And, if we can keep the pressure up and hotter, Bush will have a clinical 'nervous breakdown'. This is my prediction. Remember when he got all those pimples on his face which they called 'boils'. This was a physiological reaction to stress.

[JPace]

20. The bush regime is going to.....

try to convince the public that the ploy is
to have all the terrorists fighting us over
there and that way they are kept off our
soil.

Truth is he's just given easy targets
(American soldiers) to angry muslims who
never would have come here.

I don't think he's going to pull it off
long term.

[Sushi_lover]

21. substitute "Communism" for terror and "Vietnam" for Iraq

then tell us how we've almost won it.

tell us what we need is more American adventurism, colonialism, lies, meddling with sovreign states, money, troops, blood, and flags.

[GAspnes]

22. ask * if "there is a light at the end of the tunnel"

that would be my one question, had I the chance.

[symbolman]

23. Here's the line that's most important in that article

"Political analysts say the casualties are hurting Bush's approval numbers."

Poor Bush..

That about sums it up.. it has nothing to do with pain, suffering and death for bush..

[aquart]

24. Is the idiot going to pre-empt my soaps?

What time are they going to stage this show?

[ewagner]

30. Talks to Vets

at 4:15 EST

[alfredo]

25. I saw him on TV, but missed most of his speech due

to my wife screaming at the TV screen.

He said that he inherited a recession, (Blaming Clinton for his mess), that's when my wife started screaming at the TV. He also said Americans are happier now than they were during the 50's. More screams.

[Emboldened Chimp]

27. Talk, talk talk

"the president will talk about (how) this is a significant moment of the war on terror and that despite the difficult conditions, we will prevail"

Hey, Whistle Ass, how 'bout DOING something instead of blathering inanities like you always do?

[GalleryGod]

29. A Total Asswipe! Anybody see his Clip on the Daily Show!?

:puke: English as a THIRD language:argh: