WP, pg1: Spate of Good News Gives White House a Chance to Regroup

Spate of Good News Gives White House a Chance to Regroup
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 14, 2006; Page A01

In a White House that had virtually forgotten what good news looks like, the past few weeks have been refreshing. A Republican won a much-watched special congressional election. President Bush recruited a Wall Street heavy hitter as Treasury secretary. U.S. forces killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And now the architect of the Bush presidency has avoided criminal charges.

The question is whether this latest updraft in Bush's fortunes will last much longer than the president's surprise trip yesterday to Iraq. Bush took full command of the political stage with his five-hour appearance in Baghdad, just days after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and used it to showcase a new Iraqi government he hopes to turn the war over to eventually. Yet in the end, some analysts noted, it will matter only if this new government can heal societal schisms and stand up effective security forces.

For Bush, any progress at the moment is critical. Iraq has been at the heart of his political troubles, alienating voters weary of the war, unsettling congressional allies facing reelection this fall, and souring the public mood toward other initiatives by the administration. Even Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's legal problems stemmed from Iraq and the initial White House effort to justify the decision to invade.

With Zarqawi dead, a new Baghdad government in place and Rove freed from prosecutor's cross hairs, the White House hopes it can pivot to a new stage in which it is no longer on the defensive. In recent weeks, under new Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, the White House has tried to do more to set an agenda, moving aggressively into the immigration debate and agreeing to join direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program under certain conditions....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301767.html?nav=hcmodule

This must be a whole new definition of "good".

Like: "I got a good kick in the groin!" "My Mom had a good aneurism!"

things are fine:

Rove is a good guy

Iraq is going swell

The economy is super (except for all those job losses)

And the spin machine and lap dog press are getting fired up

it's nucular. get it right, people. he's the prezdunt.

The press is working overtime trying to get Bush's approval ratings back up. A republican barely wins an election in an overwhelmingly republican district, Bush spends five hours in Iraq, Rove doesn't get indicted, and from this somehow Bush is doing better? What an amazing load of horse shit!

while he was in Baghdad. but I guess the media thought that Iraq was peaceful.

http://juancole.com/

<snip>
This Reuters report has to be read carefully to see how parlous the situation in Iraq really is. The president of the United States, who supposedly conquered the country three years ago, had to keep his visit secret even from the prime minister he was going to visit, until five minutes before their meeting. That tells me Bush's people don't trust Nuri al-Maliki very far. In fact, apparently Bush's people don't trust Bush's people very far-- only Cheney and Condi are said to have known about the trip in the US. And, Air Force One had to land after a sharp bank, to throw off any potential shoulder-held missile launchers in the airport area. The president couldn't go to the Green Zone in a motorcade, for fear of car bombs, but had to be helicoptered in. This ending says it all: "Bush left after night fell to return to Washington. The plane left at a steep angle with its lights out and the shades drawn."
<snip>

I'm passing it on.
Damn it's so hard to find the complete news.
Staying informed sure is a hell of a lot harder than it should be. Unfortunately it doesn't look to get any easier soon.

If Bush can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people he HASN'T screwed over, then not only is his IQ significantly higher than anyone would have guessed, but there are also 5 demented but harmless people in this world. I don't believe either conclusion.

Great news, no investment income being taxed.

In the CA-50 race and the Rove non-indictment, the administration
dodged bullets. In any other outfit Rove would have been fired
a long time ago. Shrubya's trip to Baghdad is generally viewed
as a publicity stunt that hurts the Iraqi government more than
it helps. And al Zarqawi's death hasn't boosted Bush's approval
numbers beyond the margin of error except in a couple of
GOP skewed polls.

Meanwhile, despite today's crackdown in Baghdad, the killing goes
on with at least two car bombings and a gun battle.
(Who came up with a name like "Operation Forward Together?")
House Repugs are running away from the immigration bill and
Senators dumped Bush's pick for mine safety. Josh Bolten
still has a mountain of work to do.

Guess it doesn't matter what you're selling as long as it gets sold.

Oh well. I'm partially resigned to the idea that no real change will occur in this country until we reach such a level of desperation in terms of security, economics or the environment that it cuts across all class and race lines and prompts large masses towards rioting or armed rebellion.

Let's keep these facts in mind folks: It took the American Civil War to bring an end to the slavery of African Americans and it took a violent (The Haymarket Riot) event to get us the 8-hour workday. The 60s Civil Rights and Antiwar movements aside, the powers-that-be will remained entrenched and the mass populace complacent.

front, that the economy starts slowing down. I wonder who the fundies would attribute this spite of good luck * is having. God or the Devil....