An Attempted Media Hit on Laura Bush...
Washington Post reporters Jim VanderHei provide the channel for somebody--Grover Norquist?--to make a media hit on Laura Bush. I would have thought that even Washington Post reporters would have more honor. I would have been wrong:
President Struggles to Regain His Pre-Hurricane Swagger: President Bush flew here ahead of Hurricane Rita on Friday to show command of a federal disaster response effort that even supporters acknowledge he fumbled three weeks ago. The president said he wanted to see the emergency response system from the ground floor at U.S. Northern Command headquarters. "I need to understand how it works better," he told reporters before leaving Washington. But Bush was also embarking on a broader, and possibly more important, mission: restoring strength and confidence in his presidency. A president who roamed across the national and world stages with an unshakable self-assurance that comforted Republicans and confounded critics since 2001 suddenly finds himself struggling to reclaim his swagger....
A top Republican close to the White House since the earliest days said the absence of a "reelection target" and pressure from first lady Laura Bush and others to soften his second-term tone conspired to temper Bush's swagger well before Katrina hit. "A reelection campaign was always the driving principle to force them to get things together," said the GOP operative, who would speak candidly about Bush only if his name was not used. He said the "brilliance of this team" was always overstated. "Part of the reason they looked so good is Democrats were so discombobulated." Since the election, this official said, White House aides reported that Laura Bush was among those counseling Bush to change his cowboy image during the final four years...
Emptywheel at The Last Hurrah has comments http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2005/09/the_manly_norqu.html.
