Right now, Webb lives every day with the knowledge this could be day his boy is killed in a war that should have never been. If the person who was responsible for putting my loved one in such a dire situation through their dishonesty and incompetence, came over to ask how they were doing, my reaction would be a lot less gracious than Webb's.
Yeah, I agree with basso here. It was private encounter - it wasn't to score political points. I don't see anything wrong with Bush asking about Webb's son. The "that's not what I asked" was a bit rude, but it was in response to a weird response, and I think most people would be caught off-guard a bit.
Hell yes, exactly. Bush has a lot of damn nerve asking Webb about his kid when he is fully aware of Webb's strong opposition to his folly of a war. Webb was the model of restraint here. Bush deserved a punch in the mouth.
Here's what Bush could have said: "How's your boy?" "I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President." "I hear you... and I respect the service your family has given to this country. I hope we can work this thing out together so that we can get our troops out of danger as soon as we finish our mission." Instead, Bush says: "That's not what I asked you." Sorry basso, but that's a slap in the face and conveys a sense of entitlement that Bush may be used to getting with Republican Sneators, but not one he should take with the new Senators, especially Webb. Now, first of all, any member of this administration complaining about someone not answering the question they were asked is a hypocrite of the highest level... Bush never answers the hard questions asked of him at press conferences. Cheney has never answered a question he doesn't want to... instead, they pick up some phrase or idea in the question that they can use to get a talking point started and away they go. Webb was being gracious and extraordinarily patriotic when he answered "I'd like to get them out." Notice he used "them" and not "him." With Bush's answer, it's clear he doesn't care much about "them" and only wanted to know about "him." My guess is that if Webb had gone with the "him" answer, Webb's son would be magically transferred back to safety shortly, but Webb couldn't bring himself to do that to the other troops and he sure didn't want to feel like he owed the WH a favor. I can't say I would have done the same thing... I would be begging Bush to get my kid stateside ASAP. Webb's a hardass. Second, this statement, "That's not what I asked you," just reminds me too much of ones like this: “I very nearly had to wait!” --King Louis XIV
Of course you didn't, because you didn't WANT to get any of that. Obviously, your contempt for veterans that don't toe the neocon line clouds your perception in these situations.
Some excerpted Gore quotes from a recent GQ Interview... http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5179&pageNum=1 Well, I certainly take my share of whatever blame is to be apportioned for not having more skill as a communicator. Maybe there are some things in politics I’m just not good at. Q: Do you know if President Bush has seen the movie yet? Well, he claimed that would not see it. That’s why I wrote the book. He’s a reader. Q: So have you been offered any other movie parts? Yes! I actually just performed a voice-over role in a movie last week. I am reprising my role as a disembodied head in Futurama, which is being made into a movie. There are a significant number of people who appear not to know or care that I was Vice President of the United States, but who are very tuned into the fact that I uttered the immortal line, “I have ridden the mighty moonworm.” Q: Okay, on to 9-11. What were you really feeling? Was there a part of you that felt a sense of relief that you weren’t in charge that day? You mean a sense of relief that I didn’t have to deal with it? Oh no. Not at all. Not for one second. Not for one second. Why would I? I mean, well first of all, it just didn’t occur to me to feel anything like that. What did occur to me was to feel what every American felt, the outrage and anger and righteous anger, and support for the President at a time of danger… And, honestly, I was focused on the reality of the situation. And I wasn’t president, so, you know, it wasn’t about me. Now, I do wish, now that we have some distance from the events, and we have all this knowledge about what this administration did do, I certainly feel that I wish that it had been handled differently, and I do wish that I had somehow been able to prevent some of the catastrophic mistakes that were made. Q: Do you feel that we would be safer today if you had been president on that day? Well, no one can say that the 9-11 attack wouldn’t have occurred whoever was president. Q: Really? How about all the warnings? That’s a separate question. And it’s almost too easy to say, “I would have heeded the warnings.” In fact, I think I would have, I know I would have. We had several instances when the CIA’s alarm bells went off, and what we did when that happened was, we had emergency meetings and called everybody together and made sure that all systems were go and every agency was hitting on all cylinders, and we made them bring more information, and go into the second and third and fourth level of detail. And made suggestions on how we could respond in a more coordinated, more effective way. It is inconceivable to me that Bush would read a warning as stark and as clear [voice angry now] as the one he received on August 6th of 2001, and, according to some of the new histories, he turned to the briefer and said, “Well, you’ve covered your ass.” And never called a follow up meeting. Never made an inquiry. Never asked a single question. To this day, I don’t understand it. And, I think it’s fair to say that he personally does in fact bear a measure of blame for not doing his job at a time when we really needed him to do his job. And now the Woodward book has this episode that has been confirmed by the record that George Tenet, who was much abused by this administration, went over to the White House for the purpose of calling an emergency meeting and warning as clearly as possible about the extremely dangerous situation with Osama bin Laden, and was brushed off! And I don’t know why—honestly—I mean, I understand how horrible this Congressman Foley situation with the instant messaging is, okay? I understand that. But, why didn’t these kinds of things produce a similar outrage? And you know, I’m even reluctant to talk about it in these terms because it’s so easy for people to hear this or read this as sort of cheap political game-playing. I understand how it could sound that way. [Practically screaming now] But dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure? This administration has been by far the most incompetent, inept, and with more moral cowardice, and obsequiousness to their wealthy contributors, and obliviousness to the public interest of any administration in modern history, and probably in the entire history of the country! Q: What’s the nicest thing you can say about George Bush? He made a terrific appointment of Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Q: Ok, Is there a second best thing? I can’t think of another one, actually.
i'd thank god every day, if i believed in one, that al gore will never be president of these united states.
Good. Maybe you can use your protruding nipples to hit the shift key when you need to type capital letters.
Does that include the republicans that are going to side with democrats in the new congress? By Schumer's count alone there are at lest 20 republican senators that are going to break from Jr on the war. Talk about lamest of ducks.
You just described Bush, perfectly. If one wants to give him the benefit of the doubt. D&D. Idiots Anonymous.
Like basso, I didn't read that encounter as Bush being petulant. To me, it seemed more like Webb being an *******. I would break it down like this: Bush: How's your boy? (polite question) Webb: I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President. (snarky response) Bush: That's not what I asked you. (equally snarky) How's your boy? (offering a second chance) Webb: That's between me and my boy, Mr. President. (total social meltdown) If I were Bush, my second line would have been, "Whatever," followed by me moving on to my next guest, as Webb was showing an obvious lack of decorum. Webb's second response was like resonding to someone asking what time it is by telling them to **** off and get a watch.
Says the gutless chickenhawk that earlier this week was blathering about strutting around Fallujah and ordering innocent Iraqi's out of their homes before threatening to demolish them. And you wonder why the neocons got their asses handed to them earlier this month.
