Prediction: Bush will take responsibility and be praised. Issue over.

It will be called "Trumanesque" leadership. Media will move on. Democratic centrist leaders will move on. Back to the New Normal.

I hope I'm wrong but...

in his entire life.

He thinks he's invincible anyway. It's the "who cares what you think?" thing.

About the only way that would happen is if this thing is spinning dangerously out of control, and Rove and everyone else sat and beat on him to convince him that taking responsibility was his last best chance to avoid impeachment. However, he's also hard-headed enough to refuse even then.

He would have to admit he lied. Not a good idea. Won't happen.

Too many Dem Dogs on the scent (Levin). The people now see that there was manipulation going on and they will not be happy.

he would be exposed (to his supporters) as the incompetent idiot he is..........

I mean to be so devious to site dubious intel to the American people to actually go to war, it would be grounds for impeachment.

Intel-gate, Itel-gate,Intel-gate

The impetus to this issue is that we got smacked upside in Iraq, and crude remarks like "bring it on' got the ball rolling. no where else for it to roll.

Taking responsibility means consequences.

It's an alien notion for him. I think he'd go into total meltdow.

Remember the "Fool me guffaw?"

That Tenet AND Bush had taken responsibility for the statement. (This was at a press conference that C-Span covered).

He also kept saying that "Tenet was a FANTASTIC CIA director." Which, in this administration's logic, probably means he's toast.

and the Democrats should be ready for a response. It is not about the Democrats or the media - it is about lying to the American people and young men dying everyday. He said he would restore honor and integrity to the WH. He lied about that also.

He can't even say the words out loud.

Remember: Fool me once, shame on .....you....Fool me...(can't bear to say 'shame on me' so he screws it up....)?

say something like "I goofed." He always depends on his so-called charm (which certainly eludes me) to get him out of his messes....God I find him disgusting! :puke:

i think you are wrong.

my prediction is that, others in the Admin will be made to take the fall, Bush will let them go and then he's in the clear.

It's too late for him to take reponsibility...the time for that has passed. (Remember Trent "too little, too late" Lott) The tide of public opinion has started to turn and it is unstoppable. I also get the feeling that the media is relishing the fact that they have something that they can really sink their teeth into. Although our media can obviously be bought, I believe that it's stories like this that make a person go into journalism in the first place.

story of what's been going on/gone on behind the scenes from before day-one. Nah, sadly that will likely never happen. The sad fact is his ratings have been near the astronomical range notwithstanding: an administration which operates in almost total secrecy and buried the record of the Gipper's and Poppy's administration; burgeoning budget deficits and an ultimate multi-trillion dollar raid on the mythical social security trust fund caused by his tax and fiscal policies; a lousy economy and stock market; the inexplicable events surrounding 9-11 and the almost wholly coverup of those circumstances; the abrogation of many of the freedoms and liberties contained in the Bill of Rights via the Patriot Act (evolution of a corporatist, theocratic, police-state-type government and society); a precipitous drop in the value of the dollar; a large increase in the balance of trade deficits; ENRON ties and the big-time manipulation of energy prices by many in that industry; willful destruction of the envoronment; unilateralism and unilateral abrogation of treaties; and, among many others, taking this nation to a pre-emptive, some would say, unjust, inhumane, and illegal war, many would say was more for oil, empire, and hegemony (fulfillment of the PNAC vision). Any one or surely a few of these should have been sufficient for even his most ardent supporters to question his policies and actions. Yet the vast number of large Corporations and far too many of our most affluent citizens, mostly patrons, have continued to support him and the mainstream media have continued to give him a pass. And yes, so have a largely apathetic public. And don't say "God help us" for he has been listening to God all along.

If he DOES take responsibility for once, that opens a whole different can of worms. The first being "why was it in there in the first place" and another being "what about the rest of our intelligence?"..

We can't find the WMD's that ChimpCo INSISTED Saddam had tons of and was ready to use.. Soldiers are dying by the day... So who fucked up?

it's a GOOD THING Saddam isn't in power any longer and the naysayers are doubting that. The doubts are downright un-Amurkan and unpatriotic. Gawd Bless.

he did it for our own good........

It's their MO.

Because that's not the only lie he told. It just opens the floodgates. He knows there's too many bodies buried under that rock. Woudn't surprise me if there are some we haven't even heard about.

Nope, he won't take responsibility and say he purposely used information he knew to be false. No way. Nada.

He'll blame others, forgive them and announce some impending terrorist threat.

if bush really is a malignant narcissist, which i believe, that will never happen. he will deny everything or admit everything, but either way he will deny that any of it is wrong, and he will get pissed off royally, and swing wildly in all directions. (that's my prediction. of course, everything depends on what the media and the politicians do.)

They will write him a carefully scripted speech that will "take responsibility" in a symbolic, meaningless sense, but it was only an honest mistake. He will follow the Rumsfeld line that "information is always shifting" and that he believed it at the time beased on the information available then.

Lower level heads may roll. The GOP, the media will parise his courage and integrity.

Once again, I hope I'm wrong. But...

manner - poor mislead leader with only shifting intel, unpatriotic Saddam loving left with no plan and could do no better is not seeing the good that I have lead us to do.

It will be "The Buck stops here - But" speech.

And Fox will praise it.

they already tried to take responsibility that way, with the official acknowledgement from the Whitehouse.

Numbers going south, Iraq is a nightmare, no WMD's, Tony sweating it as he dances and Clare Short official suggesting that he step down to preserve the chances of Labor. Bush can't run, the firestorm is just heating up.

Its the ECONOMY also that is bringing him down, not just the dead soldiers and Iraqgate...

This will be a "I have faith in Tenet" spin session without him taking responsibility. He'll say something like "Those 16 lines should never have been included in the speech even though they were vetted by my intel agencies. However, I still have full confidence in Tenet." Look for him to repeat "16 lines" about a dozen times and "I still have confidence in Tenet and our intel agencies" another dozen times.

take responsibility for anything? That's so out of character for him, I can't imagine him getting the words out of his mouth.

The final wording is being worked on as we speak. Tenet is gone. Bush will speak on that.

the last 5 days or so. One must wonder why this is, because the blatant & outrageous lies have been in abundant supply all along.

It is not a question of the media "waking up." They are conscious accomplices, & know perfectly well what they've been supporting. Why have they recently decided to distance themselves?

If one looks back to the Vietnam era, a change came in media coverage after the Tet Offensive. It was at that point that the media - complicit then, as now - seemed to adopt a new tone. In retrospect, this has been interpreted as meaning that a section of the US business elite became convinced at that point that the war was going to do them more harm than good. Perhaps some similar decision has been taken about Bush.

...was the correct one."

That's the POTUS sound-bite for this. I expect he'll repeat it. A lot.

He won't address the substantive issues, he'll try to stonewall with a sound-bite that will be the answer to any question, no matter how it's phrased. That's been their approach to every crisis that has come up. He'll just ignore what the guy asked and keep repeating some version of "I got Saddam." Possible there might be a new sound bite for him, but this is the one he's been using. He probably won't use the cabinet-level sound bite, which is "Sixteen little words." Too whiny, coming from him.

One additional possibility--the shocker that seizes the headlines. In this case, "I have asked for and received the resignation of the Director of the CIA." This would be especially likely if this conf. was not part of the original PR plan on this--ie, they don't think the weekend went well for 'em and that Time cover has put the fear o' god in 'em.

It would be a smart move, because it shows they are willing to take a "hit"--"We gave you Tenet, now leave us alone!"

Won't work, though. All it would do is focus attention even more intensely on WHY Tenet had to go and Tenet's non-mea-culpa-mea-culpa doesn't stand much looking at. All it does is point the finger right back at Condi. "We shouldn't have let ourselves be pressured" yields "Who pressured you and why?" It's exactly what Nixon tried--"the Saturday night massacre"--and all it did was make him look even more guilty. ANYONE can see that Tenet is the scapegoat, and his statement itself just makes that more obvious. A nice quiet, "Need to spend more time with my family" resignation is what they want from him, a month from now, not a prominent canning in front of the cameras. So I don't think they'll try it. I bow to no one in my contempt for the MediaWhores, but they've bitten down on something nice and simple and concrete here, and it's too easy to keep it going, which is what they like. Especially with the death knell every day from IraqNam tolling in. (Speaking of the Time cover, did you see the SUBHEAD? "How Flawed Was the Case for Going to War Against Saddam? PLUS An Intimate Look at Seven Soldiers Who Died This Month in Iraq." Not "how strong," but "how flawed." Immediately associated with the death count. Time's as mainstream as it gets. Shrump's in deep shit.)

The only other "Big Surprise" thing--the one that might actually have a chance to really get him off is solid, additional evidence about Iraqi attempts at uranium procurement from some other "African" country. Or some amazing new evidence of a "program" that we haven't seen yet, and that manages to hold up for more than 24 hours. Actual truth, in other words--always a last resort (if at all) with these guys. I don't think so, though. If they had it, they'd a showed it by now, methinks. As Zbig sez, I don't think they got none. Would a showed it by now. And planted stuff--same thing: if they wuz gonna, they woulda. Anything that shows up at this point better be rock solid because a plant would spell instant impeachment if discovered. And it's NOT that easy to do.

In short, it's deep shit, and having a press conference about it only raises the seriousness and intensity and expectation level. Contradicts their whole approach so far, which was "Downplay this." I think they have no choice so they're playing what cards they have, but for once, they don't really have any cards to play.

As many others have pointed out, Bush* is incapable of assuming responsibility for any of his actions. He's also completely unreflective; he makes a decision, and doesn't go back to consider if it's good, bad or disastrous.

It's always someone else's fault.

Your people have changed your story far too many times, you have changed your story far too many times.

There is nothing truthful about you yesterday, today, or in the future. There is no such thing as a more honest George Bush.

You are going down, pigfarmboy. Not today, but soon. Anyone wonder if he's going to praise the CIA? Or perhaps he'll accept the resignation of Tenet? Either will not help things.

to become the people

to become the Democratic party and make something happen.

If they could listen to the CIA this time, then they SHOULD have listened on August 6th, 2001.

The following comes from a poster on another board. I decided it needed to be spread around:

The State of the Union message is mandated MANDATED in the constitution. The document doesn't say anything about giving awards, raising money, visiting disaster sites, all the rest -- but it does require the President to report on the STATE OF THE UNION. So no matter what is said now -- GWB owns that speech.

It's up to him how he researches and writes it -- and he can read it on TV or send it by mule to the Capitol for all anyone cares -- but it is his report. It is his responsibility, and he owns the words. That point needs to be made over and over.

Who cares if Tenet did or did not agree -- if Tenet wants to report, he has his own congressional committees to which he can and does report.

If Bush wants to take a poll in an Iowa Homeless Shelter to find out if Iraq has Yellowcake mined in Niger -- fine, he can do that -- but if he puts it in the SOTU -- he owns the words. It is all called ACCOUNTABILITY -- and while GWB may think it only applies to teachers in poorly funded schools -- yep, it applies to him too. Particularly in terms of the content of the SOTU.

Harkin?
911?
Enron?

Although I do not predict the rapid downfall others predict from this, it, like many scandals that came before it and took YEARS to flush out will, in the long run NOT blow over. Many would like to believe that every little thing that happens is the one thing that will lead to his downfall.

ONE THING NEVER leads to anyone's downfall, but a constellation of things over time that point to a pattern.

So what is the pattern? Lying? Incompetence? Over -reaching?

One of them will eventually stick. A look around at nations that have had psyops pulled on their populations over time does bear me out...sooner or later...people get fed up and realize they are part of a scam.

If he admits he lied to push us into war couldn't that constitute war crimes in the eyes of the world court? He may be between a rock and a very hard place. If he pulls a "buck stop here"-type mea culpa the world court may say "Shrub, you got some 'splaining to do". If he continues to obfuscate and pass the buck then Dems and the press here have no reason to let it go.

It isn't simply the uranium issue but the fact that no WMD's are noted. It isn't simply the war but the lack of a post war plan. It isn't simply the statements they made prior to but the manner in which they are now reframing and relanguaging those statements.

It is onething to pull their ace in the hole out once, but they have pulled their ace out many times and it now has about the power of a Jack, or ten.

Janet Reno took responsibility for Waco, and had it held over her head for 8 years+. She'd been on the job, what, a week?

(When it was demonstrated that Lay and his cronies had LOOTED Enron, cheated investors, while urging employees to buy, buy, buy more stock (presumably HIS that he was unloading)...

Hehehe... Why I hardly know Ken Lay... hehehe... He supported my rival An Richards.

All later lies. But we were to believe him because...


Hehehe... Why my family has been hurt by Enron as well... hehehe... My mother-in-law invested $5,000... hehehe

Right W, folks who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars have the same pain as you. :eyes:.

OR take his Corporate Reform speeches - while he was dodging renewed charges of Insider Trading. No responsibility there.

Or take his lack of response when it was finally proven that the California energy crisis had NOTHING to do with "environmental rules", or "the lack of construction of new energy producing facilities" - but rather due to outright - gross - market manipulation... by his cronies in the oil/gas industry with especially egregious actions by... Ken Lay's ENRON.

Nope, this dude has no compunction about lying. Either that or he is so intellectually lazy that he doesn't think long enough about what he is about to say or has said that he can't "hear" when he is lying. Any form of responsibility taking will be combined with an even heavier dose of finger pointing.

He knows no other way.

Please, please, please remind the public the next time they choose to elect an MBA president - to look at whether he had any success as a businessman - or whether all he ran went into the ground. If he ran a state - look at the states' financial condition upon his departure. Those warning signs should have shown he is incompetent, he NEVER owns up to anything, and he depends on others to bail him out.

Try as his speech writers may, it is seriously doubtful that they can coax him to say anything that even the most ardent bushfan could call "Trumanesque".