Former Bush adviser to Rove: "I didn't know we were supposed to BS the president"

[sabra]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/columnists/wslater/stories/122310dnpolslaterbtl.33b60dd.html

Inner circle swayed George W. Bush, says friend and former Texas state Rep. Paul Sadler

<snip>

Former Bush political strategist Matthew Dowd says the culture inside the Bush White House invited agreement and discounted dissent.

...

Dowd recalls how, early in the 2004 re-election, he was in the residence at the White House for a campaign briefing. Bush opened by telling the staffers that he was confident, based on everything he'd been told, that he was going to win, possibly by as big a margin as Ronald Reagan's victory in 1984.

"I'm sitting on the front row with this total look on my face like, 'What are you talking about?' " Dowd said. "And he looks at me and he says, 'Matty, what's that face?' "

Dowd said he told Bush he was wrong, that his numbers weren't nearly as good as Reagan's at that point in time, and that the re-election race likely would be very close.

"If we win this – and I emphasize if – we're going to win this by 2 or 3 points," Dowd said.

Bush turned to Rove. "Karl, you told me yesterday ...," said the president, clearly blindsided by the countervailing view.

"I turned around to Karl and said, 'I'm sorry. I didn't know we were supposed to BS the president,' " Dowd said.

[BeFree]

1. Dumbya was very fragile

He had to be treated like a little kid.

[UTUSN]

2. K&R #3 for that rarity, a Rethug who has a conscience and tells a truth occasionally. n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

3. the man had no grasp of reality and no ability to distinguish it for himself

The perfect Republican

[gratuitous]

4. Bush's life in microcosm

Just getting by, but never in danger because of his fabulous family fortune, and a coterie of sycophants and toadies constantly reassuring him that he's the best that ever was, is, or will be. Though somehow I doubt that Dowd spoke quite as frankly as he remembers it.

[Marr]

5. I suspect that approach was not limited to the reelection campaign.

He really seemed to believe his own bullshit about Iraq, for instance.

[Uncle Joe]

6. That's all Rove; was about, manipulation and BS although, Bush's own personality required it.

Thanks for the thread, sabra.

[RandySF]

7. Rove told Bush they would keep Congress

the night before the 2006 election.

[obxhead]

8. It wasn't BS at the time.

Karl thought they would be able to manufacture a much stronger win.

[guruoo]

9. "You have your numbers; I have THE numbers." nt

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6376549

[HopeHoops]

10. HELL, the only thing the shrub could NOT be bullshat about was his booze - couldn't water it down.

He'd have noticed it wasn't up to normal proof. If there was too much blood in his alcohol stream he started to freak out from potential encroachment by reality.