Refusal to See Sheehan Is Second-Guessed

[jefferson_dem]

Refusal to See Sheehan Is Second-Guessed
A Decision Characteristic of Bush Has the Potential to Be a Consequential Act

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 21, 2005; A05

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 20 -- It would have taken half an hour or less, and it might have lowered the temperature on a month's worth of searing publicity.

When Cindy Sheehan showed up outside President Bush's ranch on the fourth full day of his five-week working vacation to talk about a son who had been killed in Iraq, he declined to meet with her -- a decision that has been widely second-guessed, even by some Republicans. The way that choice was made, and the reasons for it, provide a vivid illustration of several hallmarks of Bush's style, including his insistence on protocol, his concern with precedent, his resistance to intrusions and his aversion to hand-wringing.

According to the accounts of several advisers, Bush and his aides concluded that it would be a mistake to yield to Sheehan's demand for a second meeting with Bush to discuss the death of her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq at the age of 24 last year when his Army battalion was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. The president had made it clear, going back at least to a California railroad swing during his 2000 campaign, that he does not care to meet with protesters or to reward them.

White House officials maintain that Sheehan may have discredited herself with statements about impeachment, her insistence on a withdrawal from Iraq, her mixing of her cause with that of the Palestinians, and her accusation that Bush "killed" her son. If Sheehan has lost credibility with the public, the "peace mom" might turn out to be only a summer sensation.

<SNIP>

The question of whether Bush was insensitive or out of touch, which had been a flash point in the campaign, was back, and commentators were once again talking about presidential naps. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) said on CNN the next day that it would be good to invite Sheehan in "just as a matter of courtesy and decency." Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said Friday on CNN that "the wise course of action, the compassionate course of action, the better course of action would have been to immediately invite her into the ranch."

<SNIP>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001046_pf.html

NOTE : Both Allen and Hagel will be on Sunday morning talk shows tomorrow, so they will have further opportunity to show just how much of a dumbfuck w really is.

[bluestateguy]

1. Somehow I just think any meeting with her would be disingenuous

He'd insist on some kind of a setup to avoid personal accountability, such as having Dick Cheney there with him, or Colondoleezza Rice, or pro-war mothers who also lost lost sons in Iraq, or neo-con Iraqi exiles, or videotaped propaganda showing how much better off life in Iraq now allegedly is.

He'd never agree to a one on one, person to person meeting, behind closed doors, no cameras, no staff and no activists--from either side.

[Booster]

2. From what I read, the two black ladies that went to Crawford to

take Cindy's place, have not only never had a meeting with Bush, but have not received a phone call or a form letter from him regarding their sons being killed in Iraq. If this can be confirmed by the ladies, then much more needs to be made of this, and they have every right to ask for a FIRST meeting with Bush. Let's see how much he squirms when a black mother requests a meeting after she has been denied a acknowledgement of any kind.

[fooj]

4. "He's ALREADY met with her." Can't pull that BS this time!

Peace.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. "insistence on protocol"?!? "concern with precedent"?!?

Give me a fucking break!

Was it "protocol" that sent him gallavanting into Iraq without UN approval?

What "precedent" was involved in exposing Valerie Plame?

[Dervill Crow]

5. Well put! n/t

[Kagemusha]

6. The President does not negotiate with emotional terrorists.

So there.

(/biting sarcasm)

[all.of.me]

17. bravo!

[applegrove]

7. Bush is an idiot. Too late. She is punching through to the truth. Nothing

he does will change the hearts that follow Cindy and finally have the hero & leader we have been craving.

Like Rich said in today's NYTimes.... Bush strategy of going to war while pretending people in the USA would not have to sacrifice is backfiring. It is wrong & incompetent. Bush has nowhere to hide and nothing to say but "my policy failed".

[rodeodance]

8. "he does not care to meet with protesters or to reward them."--says

it all.

.....The president had made it clear, going back at least to a California railroad swing during his 2000 campaign, that he does not care to meet with protesters or to reward them.

[all.of.me]

16. who told him to say that?!

i'd like to turn the tables and not 'reward' the president.

[lebkuchen]

9. Bush's rule is that voters can only meet w/him once in a lifetime

and Cindy had already spent her one opportunity, a year and a few months ago.

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. If that's the case, I hereby donate my once-in-a-lifetime meeting to Cindy

I'm sure as hell not planning to use it!

[magellan]

10. Discredited herself with statements about impeachment?

Hey, WaPo, the ones who AREN'T talking about impeachment are the ones lacking credibility. All the Republicans in Congress, for example, many of whom salivated every day for two years over Clinton and Monica but now can't be bothered to lift a finger against Bush** no matter what the evidence or how many die. They choose to be traitors to their country rather than to their party. They practice political nepotism at the cost of American lives.

Cindy Sheehan hasn't discredited herself; anyone who willingly puts an 'R' after their name does.

[Vinca]

12. "he does not care to meet with protesters or to reward them"

He sounds rough and tough, but it boils down to his inability to carry on a normal conversation, one on one, with anyone who has an opposing view. He's a close minded, egotistical, spoiled, little rich kid who needs a puppet master to function properly.

[Buns_of_Fire]

13. It "provide(s) a vivid illustration of several hallmarks of Bush's style,

including his insistence on protocol, his concern with precedent, his resistance to intrusions and his aversion to hand-wringing."

It's all in how you read it.

"insistence on protocol" = a preening popinjay

"concern with precedent" = hidebound, bullheaded

"resistence to intrusions" = secretive, isolated

"aversion to hand-wringing" = heartless, not prone to re-examine positions or feel empathy for lesser mortals

Taken in that light, it's less a description of his so-called "style" than it is a laundry list of emotional problems, written by a high school counselor who doesn't want to upset someone's parents.

[Catchawave]

14. So what if she's already "met with him" ?

That was before DSM which exposed deception, and her motivation is now for him to answer "what is this noble cause you speak of?". Don't we all want the answer to that? :patriot:

The RW spin is missing the whole point, Cindy's son died because Bush lied.

[radfringe]

15. a thousand meetings?....

A former White House official said the Sheehan decision reflected a policy that Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. has enforced for five years on everyone from donors to governors to top aides. <font color=red>"If you want a meeting with the president, you will never get it," the official said. "If you need a meeting with the president, you will get it 100 percent of the time. Otherwise, he'd have a thousand meetings a day."

I can't find the link - but I remember shortly after bush* was planted in the oval orafice there were a few stories about DeLay selling access bush* -- For $2,000 "donation" you could get a meeting with smirk-boy

maybe Cindy should offer him some money?

[scarletlib]

18. Re this quote from the article:

...'Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) said on CNN the next day that it would be good to invite Sheehan in "just as a matter of courtesy and decency." Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said Friday on CNN that "the wise course of action, the compassionate course of action, the better course of action would have been to immediately invite her into the ranch." '

bushco boys have no innate sense of decency and lack common courtesy. Their very arrogance rules out such a simple solution to a thorny problem for them.

[Neshanic]

19. If he was smart. he would of had her in for a meeting, but as...

he is a moron surrounded by a cult of personality yes clones, obviously he "stayed the course".

"Now watch this drive, bike ride, brush cuttin', cowboy hat pimping."