Did Bush inadvertently forget Cheney was in the room?

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/us/politics/10memo.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1163172322-PWjCT4dc34s3Jplc1pKbQg

On a Shifting Field, a Sense of Rising Expectations

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 — It was no doubt inadvertent, but it was hard not to find some symbolism in the moment Thursday in the Oval Office when President Bush seemed to forget that Vice President Dick Cheney was in the room.

Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader who is soon to become the first female speaker of the House, and Steny H. Hoyer, the Democratic whip, had come to the White House for lunch. As the two Democrats, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney sat in front of a fireplace, the president spoke about the importance of working together to get things done.

“Both of us recognize — all three of us,” Mr. Bush said, apparently referring to himself, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer, “recognize that when you win, you have a responsibility to do the best you can for the country.”

The omission of Mr. Cheney, the embodiment of the administration’s approach to national security, raised an intriguing question. As Mr. Bush grapples with the loss of his Republican majority in Congress, how far will he go to reinvent himself, and who — or what philosophies — is he willing to jettison along the way?

[AIJ Alom]

1. Now that he has tasted the bitterness of truth, is the man even

interested in saving his legacy ?

[txindy]

5. For one brief moment, I thought there was a microscopic chance.

Then he renominated Yosemite Bolton and wants his domestic spying program approved before January.

[txindy]

2. Well, this IS Junior who is speaking, so he may just be off in his own world.

However, I doubt even he has ever believed ol' Darth feels any sense of responsibility for anything, let alone the well-being of this country.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Yes, inadvertant. nt

[Phredicles]

4. Naw, he just meant that Mr. Cheney DOESN'T recongnize any

"responsibility to do the best you can for the country.”

[quiet.american]

6. Bush's idea of doing the best for the country almost destroyed us. n/t

[Wickerman]

7. isn't it pathetic that we even have a discussion

going on about a President failing to acknowledge a VP? For decades they were non-entities. Now, it's an issue of the student snubbing the teacher. Bush** is a grown, supposed adult! Even with control of both houses having that monkey in Gore's house is unbearable!

[sallyseven]

8. Cheney threw a hissy fit and they aren't talking??

Sounds right.

[cspanlovr]

9. "Was it a Freudian Slip or a boo-boo?"...Mel Brooks, High Anxiety

[CoffeeCat]

10. I sometimes wonder...

...if Junior isn't revolting against the neocons who used him to leverage and marketeer their doomed
warmongering bullshit.

Junior was the face man. He was ushered into the White House--like parents guiding a child. They told
him what to say. They told him what the policy would be. It failed. Miserably. The neocons/PNACers
hide in the shadows, while Junior takes the fall.

Maybe he's just sick of them. Maybe the election results emboldened him to ignore them and chart
a new course. Maybe Junior is realizing that he doesn't have to prop up their perversity. Maybe
he's realizing that the only way to save his legacy, and to do something positive for this country--is
to lock hands with the Dems, get to work and make some REAL progress.

Maybe.

Wouldn't that be nice?

I tell ya. If I was Junior, and I'd spent six years standing up for garbage--I'd want to totally
chart my own course, and tell the warmongering PNAC scum to go screw themselves.

[Dhalgren]

11. You can hardly take anything that the Dictator says as having any

meaning at all. He is in the early stages of setting the Democrats up to either acquiesce to his rule or take the fall for his failures. He will not be successful, but he will try. I am just afraid that the "new" Democratic Party has gone far enough into the "middle" (i.e. Right) that they will do something foolish like propose sending more troops to the killing fields. Rep. Murtha seems to be still quite adamant about his belief that redeployment out of Iraq is the only solution. I hope he wins Majority Leader and can bring the other Dems along. The Senate appears to be more "centrist" than the House, so we will see...