Mega-dittos, Mr. President, Let's Both Flip-Flop
When President Bush gets into trouble, as he did yesterday with his off-message comment that "No, I don't think you can" win the "war on terror," he knows he can turn to Rush Limbaugh to help him get back on course. Bush made an appearance on Limbaugh's program this afternoon from Des Moines, Iowa, where Rush commiserated with his president about his gaffe -- "I think I know what you meant," Limbaugh assured him.
Predictably, Bush didn't have to worry about hardball on this show. From the transcript:
"RUSH: ... But John Edwards is out there saying (paraphrased), "A-ha! Bush is now flip-flopping, and we, John Kerry and I, we can win this, and Bush is..." What did you mean by this?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate you bringing that up. Listen, I should have made my point more clear about what I was saying, you know, what I meant. What I meant was that this is not a conventional war. It is a different kind of war. We're fighting people who have got a dark ideology who use terrorists, terrorism, as a tool. They're trying to shake our conscience. They're trying to shake our will, and so in the short run the strategy has got to be to find them where they lurk. I tell people all the time, "We will find them on the offense. We will bring them to justice on foreign lands so we don't have to face them here at home," and that's because you cannot negotiate with these people and in a conventional war there would be a peace treaty or there would be a moment where somebody would sit on the side and say we quit. That's not the kind of war we're in, and that's what I was saying. The kind of war we're in requires, you know, steadfast resolve, and I will continue to be resolved to bring them to justice, but as well as to spread liberty -- and this is one of the interesting points of the debate, Rush, is that, you know, I believe societies can be transformed because of liberty, and I believe that Iraq and Afghanistan will be free nations, and I believe that those free nations right there in the heart of the Middle East will begin to transform that region into a more hopeful place, which in itself will be a detriment to the ability to these terrorists to recruit -- and that's what I was saying. I probably needed to be a little more articulate."
No worries, Mr. President. Limbaugh let Bush know it was "an honor and a thrill" to speak to him.
"Well, make no mistake about something," Rush said. "I can't speak for everybody, but I can speak for quite a few. They love you out there, Mr. President, and they only wish you the best."
At the "GOP Marketplace" at the New York Hilton, a pro-Bush bazaar of sorts, one entrepreneur sells the inevitable $15 John Kerry flip-flops, actual thong sandals with his "for" positions scribbled on one shoe and his "against" positions on the other. Flip-flipping tchotchkes abound here. There are flip-flop playing cards. Little flip-flop pins for ladies' sweaters. You get the idea. But the delegates having fun with the Kerry "flip-flop" cliche at this convention have run into a snag: Their own candidate, sold everywhere here as "resolute," "steady," and "decisive," can't seem to figure out whether we can win the "war on terror."
To be specific: He said we could win the war on terror before he said we couldn't. And now, today, he said we can win it after all. Flip-flop-flip. Bush's gaffe was prompted by what seems like pretty straight forward questioning from Matt Lauer. Here's the relevant section of the transcript:
Lauer: "You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war on terror in the next four years?"
President Bush: "I have never said we can win it in four years."
Lauer: "So I'm just saying can we win it? Do you see that?"
President Bush: "I don't think you can win it."
True, there was no TelePrompTer around, just Bush and a guy asking him questions -- but the query was not exactly unexpected or confusing. Not long ago, Bush took a "Winning the war on terror" bus tour. A month ago, he said plainly: "We have a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world." The convention speakers for last night stressed Bush's leadership in winning the war on terror. Indeed, it is one of the bedrock arguments the Republicans provide for Bush's re-election.
The gaffe had Bush's campaign team scrambling yesterday -- and they continue today -- to explain the president's inconsistency. If John Kerry had make the remark, you can only imagine the GOP response: "Flip-flopper!" "Pessimist!" But the aides just shooed it away as a misunderstanding. Here's an amusing "Who's on First?" exchange from CNN last night, with the anchors pressing White House spokesman Dan Bartlett for an explanation:
"BLITZER: All right. A lot of confusion today over what the president meant when he said that the war on terror is not winnable, you can't exactly win this war. What exactly did he mean by that?"
"BARTLETT: Anybody who has heard this president the last three years has demonstrated that he understands that we can win this war on terror ... When he said we can't win it, what he is saying is that this, it, Al Qaida is not a conventional enemy, not one that's going to sign up to a treaty and say we surrender..."
"WOODRUFF: But when he was asked that almost identical question on CNN just a few weeks ago, the same question, can the war on terror be won, he said absolutely it can be won."
"BARTLETT: That's what I'm saying."
"WOODRUFF: So which is it?"
"BARTLETT: Exactly..." |
