20 May 06 Bush: “It’s Not Me, It’s You, America”
David Gregory, NBC’s chief White House correspondent, who has asked some of the more insightful and pressing questions in the briefings with McClellan, sat down with Bush himself recently. The discussion, which can be seen here, had some amazing moments:
Gregory: In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned the presidency.
[Dubya starts laughing.]
Gregory: You’re laughing, but …
Dubya: I’m not laughing, I just …
Gregory: … why do you think that is?
Dubya: Because we’re at war, and war unsettles people. We got–listen, we’ve got a great economy. We’ve added 5.2 million jobs in the last two-and-a-half years. But there’s a–but people are unsettled. They don’t look at the economy and say life is good. They know we’re at war and I’m not surprised that people are unsettled because of war. The enemy has got a powerful tool, and that is to get on your TV screen by killing innocent people, and my job is to continue to remind the people it’s worth it. We’re not going to retreat hastily. You know, we’re not going to pull out of there before the job is done and we’ve got a plan for victory.
Gregory: But they’re just not unsettled, sir. They disapprove of the job you’re doing.
Dubya: That’s unsettled.
A few more interesting spots:
Dubya: … there’s a big difference between some of us who believe that we’re doing the right thing in moving forward and a group of people who want to pull out before the job is done.
A great example of his reductionist thinking. It’s not that they’ve lost children, it’s not that about 42,000 Iraqi civilians are dead, it’s not anything like that … it’s just that we “want to pull out before the job is done.”
Of course, he doesn’t see it that way, saying that the media labels people, not him:
Dubya: Well, you know, I think cutting people’s taxes is rational, particularly since it’s work. It’s caused the economy to grow.
Gregory: Is that middle ground?
Dubya: I think it is but, you know, you’re the person–you’re the people that put labels on people. I don’t.
Moreover, he cannot seem to possibly entertain the slightest bit of doubt about himself or his views of the future:
Dubya: I’m also not going to retreat in the face of adverse polls. I’m going to do what I think is right and complete the mission in Iraq, and I believe a free Iraq is going to make the world a better place.
Dubya: People are worried about Iraq and when people see progress in Iraq, they’ll realize that we can win.
Gregory: Will the finished product be as you envisioned it there?
Dubya: In Iraq? Yes, it will, a nation that can sustain itself, govern itself, defend itself, and a strong ally in the war on terror. And we will have denied safe haven to al Qaeda.
I’m afraid that’s not the way it’s going to turn out, Mr. President. It’d be nice if it turned out that way, but you were never the man to get us to that place. God knows why our nation was cursed with you.
