For those who missed it, Charles Adler interviews Bill Ardolino on his perceptions of the progress in Iraq.
And in answer to you who ask why we value the opinions of Bill Ardolino over those of Ottawa embed James Travers – Bill Ardolino interviews President George W. Bush;
President Bush met with a group bloggers today in an almost hour-long discussion of the war on terror. Eight individuals attended the meeting at the White House, while Bill Roggio and I video conferenced in from Camp Victory in Baghdad. Bush commenced the event with his oft-stated thoughts on the overall importance and strategies in various fronts of the war, with a focus on Iraq and Afghanistan, and then opened up the format to questions and discussion. My question focused on how national political reconciliation will affect progress in the Anbar Province and Fallujah specifically, and the President’s answer honestly surprised me in its length, level of detail and grasp of events on the ground.
That’s why.
RTWT, and hit his tip jar.
See also – Biill Roggio’s Q&A from the same meeting.
Update – Also there; NZ Bear of the Victory Caucus, Castle Argghhh!, Matt Burden of Blackfive Mrs. Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette, (standing in for the deployed Greyhawk), Steve Schippert of Threats Watch, Ward Carroll of Military.Com, A Soldier’s Perspective, and Mohammed of Iraq the Model.
Jeff Goldstein notes;
Had Ardolino been able to land these kinds of guests while we were doing our radio gig, I think we could have made some serious coin from it.
James Travers is one of a type of Liberal journalists in Canada: deeply ignorant of history, of social structures, of geography, and isolated from reality, living in the cocooned mentality of the 60-80’s.
Same with the rest of the Old Boys Journalists; Gord Weston, Jeff Simpson, Lawrence Martin, Craig Oliver, Don and Kevin Newman, Mike Duffy – and their more recent hangers on- Jane Taber, Gloria Galloway, Susan O’Riley etc etc.
Their endless attacks against Harper, their mechanical and constant anti-Americanism and their naive belief that the Canadian system – as set up by Trudeau – is the best and only way – reminds one of children repeating truisms without thought.
ET:
Just to clarify … would that be Greg Weston?
I don’t even think about James Travers enough to not value his opinion. The definition of a hack is somebody who is physically unable to write from more than just a single, store-bought, officially approved of political world view. Even if you were a Liberal you couldn’t read Travers without getting that sickly-sweet cloying taste when you know you’re ingesting something thats not good for you.
Were any of the “bloggers” not Bush sycophants or war supporters? If he faced adversarial debate instead of trying to goon it out of existance I may have more respect for Bush but I’m afraid I can’t see this little stunt as nay more than a stage managed PR op.
If he faced adversarial debate instead of trying to goon it out of existance…
Ah yes. The informed representatives of the ‘reality-based community’ are here to inspire everyone with their wit and wisdom. Agit-prop 101 seems to be the only course you actually might have managed to pass.
Do you have any idea what you talking about here ? What exactly for example do you mean by ‘goon it out of existence’? Did he release the hounds on it ? Give the stormtroopers their marching orders ? Issue draconian laws to crush it beneath his bootheels ?
If so then he really is remarkably ineffective. I can assure you that if I were in a position to ‘goon’ something out of existence, and wanted to do so, that something would be GONE. Bush just can’t get the job done, I guess despite every evil intent. He should maybe let Cheney take a shot at the problem.
WLM:
Have you heard about this meeting anywhere else … say anywhere in the MSM?
My impression, and not just from this particular story, is that Bush is much more intelligent than he appears.
There’s plenty of adversarial name-callers and character assassins in the left-wing blogosphere, including that one which called Gen. Petraeus Gen. Betray Us.
The only thing betrayed during this week’s hearings is the cover of any intellectual credibility by the critics of the general.
Bush trusts the people who carry out the jobs to carry out the jobs they are assigned.
Americans don’t mind war. They just don’t like losing or appearing as if they’re losing.
The Demorcratic Party in the US is staking their entire election strategy on the appearance that things are not going as well as they appear to be. That’s why they’ll lose.
DougF: Do your knees cut your lip when they “jerk” like that? I guess there’s no hope reactionaries can control such unreasoned reflex.
For the record…and Doug’s obvious uneducated presumptions, I am not Liberal or left or even particularly partisan. I do not shy from military action if it justified but neither do I particularly support current US foreign policy regarding military deployment. I guess I sit somewher just right of Ron Paul.
My concern with Bush policy is priomarily economic and constitutional and on both counts the bush admin shy from debate and spent $$$ to plant feel good articles in GOP_friendly media.
Bush dislikes real open debate of his policies and there are far more reasoned critics of his policies in his own party than the moon bat left who follow the ditch witch.
I’d just be happy if he answered a few rational questions on constitutional constraints which Ron Paul has tossed at him from time to time.
As for Bush and civil liberties …well…he said it best himself:
““I don’t give a goddamn. I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” (GW Bush relies to cabinet concerns over constitutionality of the patriot acts)
WLMR
Usually your remarks are informative, but in this case, you are exhibiting a “knee-jerk” reaction. An intelligent person would have checked up on the bloggers present before unleashing such a brain-dead comment, worthy of the sh!t-for-brains community.
But you choose your bed.
Cheers
“If he faced adversarial debate instead of trying to goon it out of existance…”
Ah yes, he could’ve sat down with that paragon of rationality and Plato’s Academy graduate Helen “Throw Momma from the Train” Thomas — the peculiar cross between Marty Feldman and the Thing from Fantastic Four.
Please give us another troll in the comments thread, these ones are boring.
“The Demorcratic Party in the US is staking their entire election strategy on the appearance that things are not going as well as they appear to be. That’s why they’ll lose.”
Their strategy has been to give the Republicans enough rope to hang themselves which has been working pretty well to date.
Jose, the Democrats gave the Republicans plenty of rope in last presidential election; then the Democrats proceeded to hang themselves with it.
I agree, though, the Democrats likely will reclaim White House.
You should have been there too, Kate.
The Canadian media has gone for a major shit. The CBC is a write-off, CTV is on its last swirl around the toilet bowl, and Global, as pathetic as it is, is the best we have. Cable TV just means more of the same crap too.
Thank gawd for the internet.
Actually, I was thinking they should have had Damian Brooks there, from The Torch.
Democrats are just giving them rope? That’s silly. Democrats carried a lot of expectations, particularly from the kos and moveon left and have achieved none of their goals.
Now they’re presently backing down from their iraq stance; if you don’t believe me, listen to the nutroots howling about it.
Of course, they’ve managed to become part of a congress with historically low approval ratings, lower than bush.
“My impression, and not just from this particular story, is that Bush is much more intelligent than he appears”……How could he possibly not be???
Actually, I was thinking they should have had Damian Brooks there, from The Torch.
Thanks for the compliment, Kate, but that’s awfully rare air for someone who blogs about the CF. Besides, all of those folks get more traffic in a couple of hours than I get all day.
I was kidding Donovan at Castle Argghhh!!! that here I was all proud of getting fifteen minutes with LGen Gauthier (Commander CEFCOM) the other day, and here Donovan goes trumping that with a face-to-face with POTUS.
I think the biggest effect of this meeting might be to finally get through to those within bureaucracies both north and south of the border who still regard blogs – and milblogs specifically – as somehow second-rate and not worth the time or effort to engage. Hopefully an event like this can rattle a few cages and open a few doors for the rest of us.
“Now they’re presently backing down from their iraq stance; if you don’t believe me, listen to the nutroots howling about it.”
I know all about it. It’s a very cynical move but strategicaly a smart one. They don’t want conservatives constructing a narrative however far fetched that blames the failure in Iraq on them. Better to let Bush own it to the bitter end so there’s no dispute even in the minds of those living in fantasy land. And it’s working, a lot of senate seats that looked like Republican safe havens are starting to look like they could go either way.
“Of course, they’ve managed to become part of a congress with historically low approval ratings, lower than bush.”
There’s lies, damn lies and statistics. You’d be hard pressed to find a Democratic member of Congress with a lower approval rating than Bush. Pelosi’s approval rating is 39% down from 50 for not taking a harder line against Bush.
Right on, “cynical joe”, I’ve been calling them “Hacks” for a long time. Press Gallery Hacks is closser to the truth, calling them Pundits is a gross misnomer. Pundit means learned and all they know is one track Liberalism, anti-Conservative. If there’s not enough happening here they’ll track south to US and Bush.
Have to agree with poster Jim’s take on the media, exactly right on.
Used to never miss a newscast at some point in the evening, now it’s a useless waste of time.
Just looking at the prigs is too much let alone listening to them.
When the major networks start skewing the facts to manipulate opinion we have a problem. Shades of Pravda.
J.M.Heinrichs saidL :WLMR
Usually your remarks are informative, but in this case, you are exhibiting a “knee-jerk” reaction.”
I HAVE given the entire Bush strategy/policy direction some deep thought…and it pains me to say the man has run a economically and civilly calamitous regime that is far from conservative or which displayed the civil ethics of a constitutional republican…he has put the party in such disrepute they will be lucky to control house or the Whitehouse for the next decade…possibly longer.
… Don;t blame me that his distractors seem to out number his supporters…he made it easy for his enemies to malign him. His and GOP’s polling numbers have never been lower…the result is we will probably have to suffer through the administration of that criminal bitch of UN global governance Hillary Klinton…she will devolve the courts and federal institutions to become global soviet organs and sell our productivity to her Chinese masters.
SO…for alienating the moderate GOP and moderate swing voter, I detest this man and his myopic “neo-con” advisors…he has set the cause of principled Conservatism back decades and ensured a victory for UN globalism in America by creating a backlash by moderates to his arrogant unilateral style and scatterbrained domestic “security” policy and neglect of the wider domestic economy outside the elite profiteering cartels.
He has started a Fed-based recession due to abstract monetarism and a cultural cesspool in coping with militant illegal aliens while engaging in domestic spying on law-abiding Americans…THESE issues resonate with the moderates and THESE issues will ensure the fall of GOP influence in Washington for some time to come. By default that means Conservative republican ideals will be in short supply when UN global socialism comes to the Whitehouse with any of the current Dem candidates.
Now think about that and fekrissake drop the partisan blinders and be honest in your reasoning.
WLMR:
Don’t think you’ll see a Democrat in the white House next time round. Willy Wonka’s long suffering wife may come closest but nothing else in the Democratic ranks show much hope for them.
The American people are on the whole more Conservative, aside from the activist celebrities with their cause du jour and the anti-war, anti-everything-Bush crowd.
Bottom line, Bush is not running!
To illustrate how bad things are for Dion, read this Travers article:
http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/256930
Like I said in other posts, if Libs get shut out in byelections (not a given yet, byelections are notoriously hard to predict), the MSM will turn on him, and demand change of leadership.
Travers’ article would just be the beginning.
“the President’s answer honestly surprised me in its length, level of detail and grasp of events on the ground”
People are always getting “surprised” by Bush because they’ve bought the media’s version of him, and because he himself often mangles the English language. I remember a few years ago a heavy-weight U.S. blogger (forget who . . . was it Hugh Hewitt?) said everytime he talked to Bush he came away more and more impressed, but everytime he talked to Bill Clinton he came away less and less impressed. Clinton is style with little substance beyond self-aggrandizement. Most of the successful policies of his years in power (ones that lowered crime rate, resulted in debt-reduction, etc.) were pushed through against his will by a majority-Republican congress. Bush is no style – but substance. Another person who found this out was Natan Sharansky, author of “The Case for Democracy” (a highly recommended read), who worked with both presidents as a liason b/w Arafat and Israel.
But guess who gets all the breaks, media-wise. Sometimes I think the media and all Clinton fans are like high-school kids who just want the approval of the “cool” kid.
Bush’s marks in Yale were higher than John Kerry’s.
Bush passed hard flight tests (written exams as well as physical) in order to fly fighter jets.
Bush beat a popular Democrat governor in an election and then went on to be a successful governor of Texas for years.
If he’s a know-nothing moron, than the losers in the 2004 election are utter and complete morons for getting bested by one.
I think history’s going to be much kinder to him than this decade’s Bush-haters.
Sorry, wrong thread.
Mac Redux, unfortunately, what you ask is not possible. Those who would be “adversarial” in an interview with George Bush are incapable of doing anything other than chanting BusHitler Haliburtan Chimp monkey.
Shamrock, the Liberal party has a tradition of alternating anglo/franco leaders. This franco must have his election, then he will be booted as he will lose handsomely.
Which is why I think there may be an “early” election, just so the libs can get in a “sensible” leader, if that isn’t an oxymoron for the fibs.
Mac redux,
I agree with you that many things Bush has done are not Conservative. Ultimately, this is why his polling numbers are so bad, even the Conservatives aren’t supporting him.
He did do one thing right, though. His response to islamo-fascism. The “Bush Doctrine” of preemptive strikes on the bad guys. Iraq was the right decision; one can argue over its implementation, but history is still unfolding, so let’s wait to do the post mortum.
The last straw for the Conservatives, viz a vis Bush, was the illegals’ amnesty shamnesty. But then, the whole political class was out of touch with the American people on that one.
Bill Roggio Rocks!
I am not a big Rudy fan and I am not voting for him.
But he is right… To call a 4 star general who has received the bronze medal of valor a LIAR?
Bad, Bad, move.
Find out who Gen. David H. Petraeus is at:
General David Betray Us
Heres the video of Hillary “flip flopping” like the professional she is at:
Hillary: I Keep Forgetting What I Think
A lot of good things going on in Iraq right now. Heres a Photo Essay (35 pictures) taken this month (Sept 2007)
Iraq Photo Essay
And last but not least
Heres the link of the NEW moveon.org video (TV ad) coming out Monday Sept 17th 2007. Basically calling President Bush a ‘traitor’.
The Democrats need some ‘common sense” soon…or the 2008 election will be over before 2007 is over.
MoveOn.org TV Ad
Peace!
Steve Johnson