The White House is trying to clarify something: President George W. Bush is "a commander guy" but not "the commander guy."
Or something like that.
On Wednesday, speaking to a friendly audience, Bush talked about his troop buildup in Iraq and rejected efforts by the Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress to force him to accept a withdrawal timetable.
"The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm a commander guy," Bush said.
That's not what I heard when I watched the event.
I heard "The Commander Guy." In fact, I was already envisioning Bush in a red leotard with a blue cape and knee-high blue boots, a large gold "C" emblazoned upon his chest.
The official stenographer of the event recorded Bush as having said he was "the commander guy" and some reporters did as well. It was not far off from his past description of himself as "the decider."
But the quote prompted chuckles around Washington that Bush had given a new nickname to his constitutional role as the commander in chief.
So the White House sprang into action to try to put the toothpaste back into the tube.
"It's been reported that the president said, 'I'm the commander guy.' He did not. What I recalled was that he said 'I'm a commander guy,' meaning that he's one of the people that listens to the commanders on the ground," [White House spokeswoman Dana] Perino said.
Did The Decider's handlers decide to rewrite history again? You be the judge. View the transcript and a link to the video of the entire speech here. [The relevant part begins at 53:30.]
Additionally, here is the context of the whole quote.
By the way, in the [Iraq Study Group] report it said, it is -- the government may have to put in more troops to be able to get to that position. And that's what we do. We put in more troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm [the] commander guy.
[emphasis added]
I can imagine tens of thousands of our soldiers would like to be in some other place, too, Mr. President.
And just for ships and giggles, here are the hardball questions the president faced from the Association of General Contractors.
Q. Thank you. In May of 2006, my second cousin was on his second tour in Iraq. Corporal Cory Palmer, he's in the Marines, he was on patrol in a Humvee, and they ran over a roadside bomb. He and many others in that Humvee perished. What do I need to do, what does the media need to do to help you, so that my second cousin, and others like him, have not died or been injured in vain?
Bush's answer: (1) We must have the will and determination to succeed. (2) You must remind your legislators to renew my blank check to fund the war. (3) The Iraqis won't commit themselves to their new government unless we stand with them.
Correct answer: The media needs to continue to report both the good and the evil from the front lines. Lying about what happens in war, like our government did regarding Pat Tillman, abuses the memories of the dead and insults the intelligence of the survivors. And you, you need to continue to challenge your government on the spending of your money and your loved ones' lives.
Q. I'd like to know, like a lot of other people in this room, we have family members -- we have family members who are actively involved in the security of this country in various ways. From them, we've received positive information that we consider credible, who say about the success and the good things that are happening as a result of us being in Iraq. I would like to know why and what can be done about we, the American people, receiving some of that information more from the media, or (inaudible.) (Applause.)
Bush's answer: (1) Freedom of the press is great, even though it has "inherent dangers". (2) I'm the Commander Guy. (3) What was the question?
Correct answer: If you are concerned about media portrayals of your loved ones, tell the media, not the president.
Q We're General Contractors of America, and what are we doing -- I don't hear anything about the reconstruction of Iraq. Could you fill us in on that? Are we doing enough, as general contractors? And we are at your disposal.
Bush's answer: "[O]ur reconstruction strategy initially was to do big projects, and then those big projects would be destroyed by the enemy." (In other words, we're going to give no-bid contracts to friends of mine to build things that will get blown up right away, so that we can give more no-bid contracts to friends of mine to rebuild the new stuff that got blown up.)
Correct answer: Great, thanks for volunteering! As a sacrifice for our country and our men and women in uniform, I want you to offer up your services to the Iraqi government at a 50% discount rate.
Q. And second is a personal question. What do you pray about, and how we can we pray for you?
Bush's answer: Millions of Americans are praying for me and Laura.
Correct answer: Millions of Americans are praying for me and Laura to go.
Oh, and what the hell kind of Christian are you, that you don't know how to pray for me?
Q. You talked about the terror of 9/11, and what I wanted to share with you, my wife and I had our first child two months after 9/11. We named her Grace, because we felt that the world needed some grace at the time. And what I wanted to (inaudible) is the fact that our appreciation and keeping my family and also the families of America safe for the past five years is (inaudible).
Bush's answer: "Grace will live -- the question is, will Grace live in a peaceful world, today and tomorrow?"
Correct answer: Yeah, I've been fairly inaudible in my leadership, too. I probably should have done more, given my pro-life and pro-family platform. I guess I realize that my war has cost many lives and destroyed many families. But I am not worried, since there's not much you can do about it.
[Cross-posted at dailykos.]
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