WP: White House Opens Door To Dissenters

Aversion to Criticism Appears to Be Fading

Saturday, June 3, 2006; A01

When retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey criticized the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war three years ago, he was lambasted as an armchair general and deemed an adversary by the Pentagon. So even McCaffrey was surprised to find himself in the Oval Office this week giving President Bush his thoughts on Iraq.

A White House long accused of squelching internal dissent and ignoring outside viewpoints has been reaching out lately to prominent figures who have disagreed with the president. Bush just hired a Treasury secretary who opposed his policy on global warming and a press secretary who dismissed his domestic agenda as timid and listless.

How much such moves reflect a genuine opening up for an insular White House remains uncertain. Symbolically, at least, the White House is eager to rebut the longstanding public impression of a president in a bunker listening only to like-minded advisers. Substantively, Bush has hardly signaled a major course change in the direction of his presidency, and skeptics recall past instances when nonconformists within the administration were shut out.

(snip)

To disaffected insiders such as Wilkerson, Bush has seemed powerfully indifferent to alternative views or shielded from them altogether. First-term figures such as Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman and Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill ultimately left frustrated. Skeptical assessments of Iraq's weapons programs were largely disregarded before the 2003 invasion.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201700.html

:shrug: Dissenters are now welcomed, right?

This is all just window dressing, THe "Great Decider" takes his orders from the Rummy-Cheney-Rice-Rove Cabal

I used to think that our pResident was a narrow-minded, petulant, defensive little twit.

NOW...after reading this article...I'm just not sure!

Maybe the Grinch has a heart, after all.

Then again, maybe the Post will stop taking journalistic marching orders from the
White House PR people.

How many more of these "Bush has a new personality!" stories are we going to see
from the MSM?

Damn, his handlers are working over time to re-invent this nimrod.

joe wilson, etc?

.......oh, I get it, he waiting for the subpoenas after the 1st of the year.

When do Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert get their invitations to the WH? And Michael Moore?

Heckuva Job Bushie but too little too fucking late you murdering fuck.

They may be listening but I doubt very much they're taking any of these people's advice. I imagine the new Treasury Secretary will soon be a very frustrated man, wonder if he'll stick it out for the full term?

puh-leeze. :eyes:

he does blame bush handling at times but this guy actually believes Iraq can be won! Real dissent there eh? :eyes:

and is being called on daily to ask questions!

Oh wait...nm.

:sarcasm: :cry:

In one of my business classes, the instructor made a point about leaders:

"A company is only as good as its management"

The instructor kept hammering away at this, all through the term. The rationale was, you can have the best people in the world working for you, but if the management is inept, worthless or just plain stupid (like Bush) your company could go bankrupt.

Why? Because they make the decisions.

amazes me that so many people keep buying it.

it really is beneath them

It is one thing to let critics into the room, it is another to actually listen to them.
Shrubya's appearance at the Council of Foreign Relations and the gathering of Secretaries
of State show that he will readly use these experts as props meant to lend credibility
to policies he has already decided.

As long as Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are in the White House, nothing will change.

:eyes:

A little fake and dodge pr going down here sez I.

Just like in 2000 when Bush very publicly refused to meet the Log Cabin repukes and then after the double rinse spin news cycle was over, he quietly reversed himself and met with them. Who got the real message on that? And who inoculated himself against charges of bigotry ta boot?

the Whorington post at its whoring best. Pure speculation tilted to make the Bush Regime look good...the Librraaal media strikes again.

Think I'll get an invite?

His ratings are so low, he's acting like he cares.

Expect a list of things he's been critisized for to be checked off as he holds his photo ops.