Eighteen House Democrats meet Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld to discuss Iraq
As part of his two-week effort to regain credibility on the war in Iraq, President Bush and senior members of his Cabinet met privately with 18 moderate House Democrats on Wednesday in order to gauge their concerns and once again make the case for the war, ROLL CALL reports Thursday. Excerpts:
Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the Democrats to the White House for the hour-long session. The meeting was held just one day before the Iraqi national elections. Publicly, Democrats characterized the meeting as a positive give-and-take session. Privately, however, some worried that the White House may be trying to provide itself political cover.
The 18 Democrats included at least four ranking members — Reps. John Spratt (S.C.) of Budget, Jane Harman (Calif.) of Intelligence, Tom Lantos (Calif.) of International Relations and Ike Skelton (Mo.) of Armed Services — as well as other Democrats who either voted for the October 2002 resolution authorizing U.S. involvement in Iraq or have not embraced a timeline for troop withdrawal. An aide to Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the paper the president should “also reach out to Members who disagree with him.”
“We’ve said all along he should talk more to Congress and have a dialogue,” spokesman Brendan Daly said. “But he should also talk to people who don’t agree with him, who didn’t vote for the war. He needs to hear dissenting views on this because obviously what he’s doing now isn’t working.”
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Eighteen_House_Democrats_meet_Bush_Cheney_1215.html