House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.
The meeting, which ran for an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon, was disclosed by participants yesterday as the House prepared to vote this evening on a spending bill that could cut funding for the Iraq war as early as July. GOP moderates told Bush they would stay united against the latest effort by House Democrats to end U.S. involvement in the war. Even Senate Democrats called the House measure unrealistic.
But the meeting between 11 House Republicans, Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, White House political adviser Karl Rove and presidential press secretary Tony Snow was perhaps the clearest sign yet that patience in the party is running out. The meeting, organized by Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), one of the co-chairs of the moderate "Tuesday Group," included Reps. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.), Michael N. Castle (Del.), Todd R. Platts (Pa.), Jim Ramstad (Minn.) and Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.).
Now Countdown with Keith Olbermann has got a great story providing all the details of this meeting. From YouTube:
And you can find more details on this meeting from Think Progress:
The group of Republicans was led by Reps. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Charlie Dent (R-PA), and the meeting included Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove, and Tony Snow. One member of Congress called the discussion the “most unvarnished conversation they’ve ever had with the president,” and NBC’s Tim Russert said it “may have been a defining pivotal moment” in the Iraq debate.
Russert described the conversation:
[O]ne said “My district is prepared for defeat. We need candor, we need honesty, Mr. President.” The president responded, “I don’t want to pass this off to another president. I don’t want to pass this off, particularly, to a Democratic president,” underscoring he understood how serious the situation was.
Brian, the Republican congressman then went on to say, “The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There is no longer any credibility. It has to come from Gen. Petraeus.” The meeting lasted an hour and 15 minutes and was, in the words of one, “remarkable for the bluntness and no-holds-barred honesty in the message delivered by all these Republican congressmen.”
The congressional Republicans are scared. They are watching a president who has expressed a complete stubbornness and refusal to compromise with the Democrats on resolving the Iraq. They are watching the Iraq war continue to deteriorate. They are watching the president's job approval numbers plummet, and the American people turning against the war. And all of this is taking place just one year before the presidential elections. The Republican worry here is that if the president continues his "my way or the highway" act, then the GOP might just end up losing more seats in Congress, and possibly the White House.
One more little detail to talk about here. According to the Think Progress article, President Bush told the Republican congressmen, “I don’t want to pass this off to another president. I don’t want to pass this off, particularly, to a Democratic president....”
I do find this ironic, considering how adamant Bush has been in demanding his blank checks from Congress to fund his war in Iraq over the past four years.
No comments:
Post a Comment