It seemed this way at first. But later I thought he lightened up. He seemed to recognize now that the elections are over it is time to let bygones be bygones (political namecalling and such) and get to work, and that it had to be mutual/bipart work. IMO he has become a much better speaker/politician in his 6 years, much better. This will be legacy time. The one issue he could really do some good on, and may be in a very unqiue position to pull some groups together on, is immigration. Look for McCain to get involved there too as that man is going all out for any attention he can get. Lets hope Bush does something both humane and economically successfull on that--pulling together economic conservatives/big business folks with social liberals, who do converge on this issue. It is going to be tough to do much more, maybe some window dressing on SS and health care, middle/low income tax cuts/credits (education, health, etc), possibly.
I thought Bush was fine, he was appropriate, I had no problem with that conferences. he actually seemed more at ease; the pressure was off.
Both sides know that they have to work together, the dem's dialog is no different than Bush's, they both hate each other but realize that now that the elections are over they have to deal with each other on these terms.
Awww no more mandate. No more political capital to spend. Bush will keep Rove to do what he does best, kick and scream.
I know it wasn't asked of me, but the same is true of any Americcan. We have had our rights and freedoms cutailed upon.
I don't usually do this, but since it's hard for me to type at the moment, I'm posting my take on Bush's response here from the "results" thread: What a grand and glorious day. Even Rumsfeld resigned, and the massacre at the West Wing isn't over. Look for Rove to leave at some point in the near future. For those of you who watched Bush's press conference, you were seeing vintage "Governor Bush," just in case you missed the first act here in Texas. He was Mister Bipartisan Guy, because he had to be. He'll dump the losers around him and replace them with people that have ties to his father. He'll shrug off attacks as "typical heat in a campaign," and smile and say it's nothing, and he wants to work with the Democrats. That they love their country, too. (insert "love Texas," for when he was governor) Yada, yada, yada. He's doing it only because he has to, if he wants any kind of legacy, and his Dad has told him plenty about the importance of a President's legacy. George Junior heard about it for years, but wanted to do things his way. Now, he'll be paying attention. Just watch... this is going to be fun. D&D... what a Glorious Day!
"Hey new Dems... work with me... approve these loons to prove you want bipartisanship." _______________ One More Time for Judicial Nominees After calling for bipartisanship, President Bush surprised Senate Democrats with plans to renominate a controversial list of judges – some of whom may be unacceptable even to a few Republican senators. “It’s an unfortunate signal,” said one senior Democratic Senate aide. The Senate Judiciary Committee has not received the nominations yet. As word spread about the nominations, however, the committee’s Republican Chairman Arlen Specter told reporters: “It is obvious they cannot move during the lame-duck session.” After January, he added, questions about the fate of the nominees should be “directed to someone else.” The White House action is viewed largely as an effort to appease the party’s conservative base. An administration official says there will be a formal White House announcement on the renominations later today. The president is in Moscow, having left Washington last night. Lawmakers and others had been waiting to see whether Bush would renominate four particularly controversial appeals court candidates whose nominations had expired without Senate action. He did. The four include two nominees to the Fourth Circuit in Richmond: Terrence Boyle, a district court judge in North Carolina and a former aide to Sen. Jesse Helms, and Defense Department General Counsel William Haynes, who became a symbol of the Bush administration’s policies on terrorism, interrogations and other wartime powers. In addition, William Myers, a lobbyist and critic of environmental rules, was renominated for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, and Michael Wallace of Mississippi, rated unqualified for the appeals court by an American Bar Association panel, was renominated for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. – http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/11/15/one-more-time-for-judicial-nominees/trackback/
Dems seem to forget that he did win his own election, he is still the POTUS, he is still in the place of power... And if they want the White House in 2008, they better behave themselves, the country is watching with vested interest.
That's the problem with Bush's emphasis on trying to preserve "our way of life" (better read: HIS way of life) at all costs. I know you are not asking me directly, but: -Am I not supposed to care about torture, death, and destruction that is happening to others? -Am I not supposed to care while the poor get poorer? -Am I not supposed to care as future generations bear the burden of our selfish and short-sighted financial and environmental decisions? As long as I am fine, the rest of the world can go to hell??
If the majority of Americans wanted Congress to "behave themselves" and bow down to the "place of power," wouldn't they have reelected the Republicans? Republican Congress was quite docile and submissive.
Bingo. Beat me to it. No, the American people are tired of crapping on the constitution, tired of Halliburton hand jobs, tired WMD lies, tired of illegal Wire tapping, and made their voice heard loud and clear.
Oh, yeah... via www.dailykos.com... _________ How About Some More of that Bush Bipartisanship? Life goes blithely on in BushWorld, elections or no. Whether it's trying to bring back John Bolton or renominating already rejected judicial nominees, he's intent upon continuing to play to his wing-nut base, apparently unaware that he lost already. The good news is that Democrats can now stop Bolton and those judges for good. The bad news is that he can make executive branch appointments that don't have to be approved by the Senate. Today he did just that, with a big ol' FU to the Democrats by appointing Dr. Erik Keroack to head up the Office of Family Planning, which adminsters all Title X programs. Title X of the Public Health Service Act provides family planning services primarily to low-income women. What's so special about this appointment? After all, he's a doctor, right? A doctor at a crisis pregnancy center, one of those deceptive clinics that pose as real clinics and prevent women from having abortions through tactics like this: According to a recent Planned Parenthood email, a 17-year-old girl mistakenly walked into a crisis pregnancy center thinking it was Planned Parenthood, which was next door. "The group took down the girl's confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their 'other office' (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby)." When she showed up for her nonexistent appointment, she was met by the police, who had been erroneously tipped that a minor was being forced to abort. The crisis pregnancy center staff followed up this harassment by staking out the girl's house, phoning her father at work, and even talking to her classmates about her pregnancy, urging them to harass her. Right, just who we want heading up our governments' efforts to provide quality family planning services. But it gets even better. Keroack is one of the leaders of the abstinence-only movement. Jessica at Feministing has this: At the Annual Abstinence Leadership Conference in Kansas, Keroack defended abstinence (in an aptly titled talk, "If I Only Had a Brain") by claiming that sex causes people to go through oxytocin withdrawal which in turn prevents people from bonding in relationships. Seriously. [Keroack] explained that oxytocin is released during positive social interaction, massage, hugs, "trust" encounters, and sexual intercourse. "It promotes bonding by reducing fear and anxiety in social settings, increasing trust and trustworthiness, reducing stress and pain, and decreasing social aggression," he said. But apparently if you've had sex with too many people you use up all that oxytocin: "People who have misused their sexual faculty and become bonded to multiple persons will diminish the power of oxytocin to maintain a permanent bond with an individual." Hear that? Too many sexual partners and you'll never love again! The good doctor has also explained his use of ultrasounds in anti-abortion counseling by stating, "even Midas lets you look at your old muffler before they advise you to change it." Thank gawd the Dems are in to counteract just a little bit of this wingnuttery, but boy, is it going to be a long two years.
