Instead of Dialogue, Bush Gives Senators Bottom Line

[Khephra]

When a group of senators went to the White House this week to talk about President Bush's emergency spending bill for Iraq, they expected a dialogue on whether to rebuild the country with loan money, grants or a combination of the two. But President Bush, vehemently opposed to loans, told them flatly he was not interested in give and take.

"He said, `I'm here to tell you this is what we have to do and this is how we have to do it,' " said Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, one of the few Democrats who attended the Tuesday afternoon session. When she raised a question, she said, "He looked at me and said, `It's not negotiable, and I don't want to debate it.' "

Republicans who attended did not dispute Senator Landrieu's account. "He had very strong convictions," said Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. "He was very forceful," said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

But the forceful talk, the culmination of an intense monthlong lobbying campaign by the president, Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior White House officials, did not change many minds, and may have backfired. When the loan-or-grant issue came up for debate in the Senate late Thursday night, eight Republicans took the unusual step of bucking the White House.

more...............

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/18/international/middleeast/18REPU.html

[Nlighten1]

1. This phrase is getting worn out but...

what a "uniter" Bush is being...

[Flubadubya]

2. Dick Tater...

When are they ever going to get that name right? When will they ever learn who's running this country?

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. And they all sat there

and allowed themselves to be abused.

I don't give a fuck if you're the pope, I don't put up with people who think they can treat me like shit. Too bad our representatives let him get away with this crap.

[paulk]

9. they didn't just sit there

they voted - 8 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote against Bush's plan.

[goforit]

26. The quake that is will continue to widen!!!.....Thankyou All 8 Senators!!!

But which stupid DEMS voted for Bush????

Lieberman????

Kerry???

[DeathvadeR]

35. The Pope would have sat down with them.

The article is an obvious example that democracy isn't working in the grand'ol Red, White and Bullshit.

[Rose Siding]

4. In the Senate yesterday, Byrd said

-on a related matter- that they were there to serve the people and not "the Commander in Chief" (you have to imagine that said in scoffing tones of mockery)

Not so for most repubs- snip>"I gave the benefit of the doubt," said a weary Mr. Allen, "to the commander in chief."

[The Zanti Regent]

5. Parliament of Whores in Action

I'm so sick and tired of these Whores laying down and dying instead of standing up to this god-damned illegally elected fraud.

I pray that on 1/20/05 at 12:01 PM, President Clark slaps a pair of handcuffs on this piece of shit and puts him on a plane to the World Court in the Hague!

[goforit]

27. Keep track of those WEAK NAMES!!!....They'll come in handy when

the time is right!!!

[underpants]

7. Byrd on Larry King last year

King "You have worked for many Presidents"
Byrd interrupts "I've never worked FOR a President I work with them"

Byrd is old school where even within the same party legislators never gave up power to the executive branch. That is why the checks and balances were set up and worked for so long, that part seems to be lost.

[Zhade]

16. Byrd is a true hero and patriot

I watched his remarks yesterday - he took Stevens to task for that bullshit "a vote against this bill is a vote against supporting the troops" comment. He was on fire.

[Rose Siding]

21. He stands in fundamental contrast to

Allard who sniveled his pathetic oath of allegiance.

[brainshrub]

39. and Hillary

who seems to bend over backwards to avoid standing up for what's right.

[brainshrub]

38. "Fie on this pre-emptive war"

What an orator!
I don't even know what "fie" means and I was enthralled.

[underpants]

6. This reminds me of someone whipping their kid in Kmart

He's at his wits end (surely a short rope to start with). He is frustrated and desperate for a win. No discussion, no sugar coating, no diplomacy. I've seen in with bosses and co-workers trying to exert their dominance. Of course he has been a horrible manager, both in business and with his children, he entire life.

They like to go one thing at a time to keep on message and now they have too many things going on so he tries to put out the fire as quickly as is possible.

[Zhade]

18. No wonder the twins are drunks. With a family like that, I'D be one, too!

NT!

[PaDUer]

36. Drunk...

AND stoned...they've got the best stuff!

[Mari333]

8. Byrd was right on

Georgie thinks he is the f*cking king.
Gotta throw that little bastard out. period. I hope every Sen that voted for the 87 Bill is thrown out in 2004 on their arse
In the meantime, the Rove Media whores are trying to cover this whole thing up with Osama spin all day today..
OH and 4 more soldiers killed today..media whores wont cover that very much.......

[Neecy]

10. what's really sad

...is that after the snapping-dog treatment, Landrieu voted FOR the bill.

So, I guess his bullyboy tactics worked.

[GalleryGod]

11. Yeah, an Our Gal Mary's only got until 2008-for her REelection

Nice lookin' - ain't nuttin' cookin' Honey babe!:argh:

[NewJerseyDem]

13. No

The reason Landrieu was at the meeting had nothing to do with final passage of the bill. I'm sure she had decided to vote for that a long time before the meeting.

The meeting was about whether the reconstruction money should be loans or grants. Landrieu was apparently one of the senators that was undecided. After the meeting, she voted YES for the loan amendment in defiance of the president. The president's bullying backfired and his treatment of congress has backfired on several occasions this year.

[Neecy]

14. I stand corrected...

Yes, she did vote for the amendment which, if it appears in the final reconciliation version of the bill, Bush will veto (and the House didn't pass a similar measure, so I'd be pretty certain this won't appear in the final bill).

If she had a problem with the American taxpayers handing 20B for Iraqi zip codes and pickup trucks, she shouldn't have voted for the underlying bill. Period.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. Related discussion in editorials/other articles

Please click here.

[kayell]

15. His imperial highness George has spoken

How dare these mere senators challenge the wishes of our God appointed king?!

Georgies starting to really believe in all the lies, so much so that he no longer cares to bother with the diplomacy of pretending to be just a plain ol' rancher from TX, and is ready to assume the crown.

Does anyone else think that * is finally and completely cracking up?

[Zhade]

19. What do you mean, "finally"? His cheese slid off his cracker long ago.

NT!

[kayell]

30. Yes, but some mentally ill people are able to maintain

a sane facade for some period. I sense that that period is past now for georgie boy.

Ah there it is: The term I've been racking my brain for is decompensation - The deterioration of existing defenses, leading to an exacerbation of pathological behavior.

also - Effects of Severe Stress. Personality (psychological) decompensation. Lowering of adaptive psychosocial functioning in the face of sustained or severe stressors.

Tough times for the shrub.

[Q]

17. King George* doesn't believe in Democracy...

...or the US Constitution for that matter.

- Otherwise he would know that the Constitution DEMANDS that each CO-EQUAL branch of government has a say in how our country is governed.

[JNelson6563]

20. I'd like to give him the back of my hand

repeatedly. Arrogant bastard.

[Rex]

22. Kings don't debate with their serfs

nt

[leesa]

23. These traitors deserve it...to be upbraided by the First Cheerleader

What ungodly cowards these people are. They chose to be part of the Bush Crime Family...let's hope their reward is the highest punishment for treason.

[Malva Zebrina]

24. this is really funny

when you think about it. I thought it was funny. This idiot is not in charge of anything-but he plays one on TV LOL-and hitting tables and bullying are really laughable. He is really funny. He is the weakest and the worst president ever--simply because he is rather dumb and ignorant--so he thinks that if he acts like a bully that will show how powerful he is and he thinks that if he goes to other parts of the world and gives the Hitler salute and brings his fat assed dullard of a subservient wife, that that will say he is indeed a very powerful man. He is a stupid idiot. You know--this is a pathetic excuse for a man. Get him out of there. He has done nothing but destroy this country. Never let this happen again--and if it looks as though each of us is losing any power at all because we are not rich and powerful I would say this---buy some property--anywhere and establish your own hegemony and independance over any of this crap. Let go of your trendiness--get some land and live on it--survive.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

25. What a dick head. A spoiled child is trying to run the country.

[young_at_heart]

28. How very "autocratic" of him

The sterm father, etc. "You do what I say, or else"!

[karlschneider]

29. I'm sure he knows all about lines. Especially on the mirror.

:D

[chookie]

31. chimpy pounded the table, too

smirky was a bit out of control, and pounded the table in a simian display of aggression.

And it didn't change the mind of any of them.

On the eve of the war on Iraq, he called the congressional leaders into the Oval Office, announced the imminent launch of hostilities, said "The only reason I am announcing this to you now is because I am required by law to do so" and then turned on his heel and marched out the door. (See Time magazine's account)

These are but two examples of the contempt he has for Congress.

One of the many ironies of These Orwellian Times is that authoritarianism is on the rise in the United States at the same time the United States is at war, ostensibly having toppled authoritarian regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Malva Zebrina]

32. actually it is not really contempt but fantasy

this little twirp of a man really believes he is in charge of something since the Supreme Court said he could be the president of the USA. He is and has been fighting that uphill since he was selected and not elected. He, in all the history books after he is deposed, will be forever known as them rather unintelligent and not gifted, son of the one term failed presidency of his father, who failed to take out Saddam Hussein, who had to be selected and not elected--and after that, brought his own people into two wars that cost thousands of innocent lives and brought nothing of value to the US but did bring a whole lot of profit to his Vice president's former employer, Halliburton--not to mention his own daddy's Carlyle group. This man, however, will never realize that he did have some responsibility to the people of America--his own people, because, well because he was first of all too dumb and not very reflective, and second of all he was greedy for power as a result of his paucity of intellect. He will go down as the weakest little man ever to coup, actually the first man to coup the US presidency--and he has destroyed this country as a result of that corruption. May he forever awake at night for the rest of his life, as he struggles with nightmares of the screaming innocents he has murdered in pursuit of greed and power-may he see their heads being blown off and their limbs flying in the air as a direct result of his policies and lies-and may his fat assed vacant wife forever be haunted in her dreams of the faux role she played as his whore without talent but who did marry well and never did a thing in her life but marry up into wealth--and she can take that and suffer with it for the rest of her life also. May they both live to a ripe old age haunted by the murders they both sanctioned.

[karlschneider]

33. But he will never feel guilt, shame or embarrassment. Those emotions

are foreign to sociopaths.
:grr:

[PaDUer]

37. They should've pounded his head...

when he pounded the table...throwing another temper tantrum then ran away to have non-alcoholic beer--the GOOD stuff..

[kayell]

34. I've just realized where all Rush's excess downers were going

DUH! (slaps forehead)

Now that George's supply has dried up, it must be awfully difficult for Condi to keep him under control.

[Jack Rabbit]

40. The adults are in charge

From the account of the meeting in the Guardian Unlimited, dated Saturday October 18:

On Tuesday, Mr Bush had called in nine Republican rebels and ordered them to support his version of the bill, reportedly slamming a table at one point and refusing to answer their questions.