Now White House bigwig Dan Bartlett insists that the administration has “never� had “a stay-the-course strategy.� SEE IT HERE. President Bush said the same thing yesterday.
The problem is: there are tons of links and videos showing that they argued just that. (The linked post has some of it. ALSO: Some folks suggest that because they don’t like the linked site it negates what they’re posting. Nope. They’re posting videos and links to quotes — not doing original reporting or an analysis here. And it is damning).
We suspect there will likely be lots of across-the-boards protest votes cast on Nov. 7 to start the process of clipping the wings of an administration that now makes the credibility gaps of the Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon administrations look like teeny weenie cracks in the door.
The reality: they did say it was “stay the course” but now rather than being adult-enough to say “it’s time to make some policy adjustments so we can better achieve our goals” they’re denying their past position. Why?
The polls are increasingly dreadful on the war. The war is going poorly and news stories quote military officials and even key Republicans saying that it’s partially due to administration mismanagement plus the failure to seriously consider and weigh all short and long term options.
Bob Woodward’s book is a damning portrayal of an administration that sets policy by positive affirmation. Conservatives and members of the first Bush administration have made no secret that they believe the war is going poorly and that the first George Bush was correct to not try and take over Iraq. The bipartisan commission headed by former Secretary of State Jim Baker is going to recommend some changes but it already leaked enough info so people know it is not going to recommend continuing the existing policy with declarations that victory will be ours.
So the White House is shifting its position...but rather than be honest with reporters and the American people they are now insisting they never asserted what they asserted. If Disney ever remakes Pinocchio, a casting director knows where to look.
The people who should feel most insulted and outraged are those who supported the war and uttered the phrase (in arguments, on their websites or as talk show hosts) that it was important to “stay the course” — a phrase that used because it was what was being communicated from the top.
Will they? Or will then now say: “We never said we should stay the course!”
Some folks will try to find lawyerly gradations in what the White House has said before, to defend it. But this an administration that rejected “nuance” and wanted “clarity.” The clarity now is the degree of credibility — or lack of it — that should outrage not just moderates and independents but member of the GOP’s loyal base who deserve much better.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.