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Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior White House Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.
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Sts. Baker and Hamilton
December 07, 2006 10:18 AM
Beyond the media tounge-baths of Messrs. Baker and Hamilton and their Iraq Study Group recommendation come quite a few harsh criticisms from the Right.
I've been bringing them to you this week not necessarily because of my views on them, but because the media coverage of the ISG report has been akin to what one might imagine would have been afforded Moses descending from Mt. Sinai with the 10 commandments (as opposed to the 79 recommendations brought to us yesterday by our twin Mosi, Lee Hamilton and Jim Baker. I wonder if God leaked a couple of the commandments to the Israelites Inquirer. You know, to drum up interest.)
This is also why I brought you the thoughts of the knowledgable Republican official praising outgoing UN Ambassador John Bolton. I could bring you what the rest of the media is bringing you -- but then your brains would be deprived something new with which to exercise them. Consider it an intellectual lap on an elyptical machine.
So, in that spirit, HERE IS BILL BENNETT on the ISG folks:
"This is the triumph of the therapeutic, where bipartisanship — a hug across the aisle — has become a higher value than justice. The crisis of the house divided has been inverted; we no longer are worried about the crisis but the House, the moral, the good, and the just take a backseat to collegiality. Does history really give a hoot about bipartisanship? Who cares whether they are getting along? The task is to do the right thing, especially in war. But, when relativism is the highest value, agreement becomes the highest goal, regardless of right and wrong. And, woe to those who disagree, they will be sent whence they came — the outer reaches of “extremism.” This is the tyranny of the “best people” today’s equivalent of the Cliveden set.
"One reporter asked if the president would accept this “edict,” as if there's force of law here. (the press has bought into the tyranny already). Another asked how hard it would be for the president to give up his power, “to take his hands off the wheel.” Do we all need a civics lesson? I’m tempted to go on about knowledge of American government, but for brevity, can we just say the president is the commander-in-chief and in charge — because he is elected by the people.
"Perhaps the most systemic problem with the report is it didn't tell us how to win; it answered how to get out. The commissioners answered the wrong question, but it was the one they wanted to answer.
"In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible."
Thoughts?
-- jt
December 7, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (10)
"...Bush has blatantly shown smugness, arrogance, AND insufferable moral superiority over those he strongly disagree with. And this why we have a mess in Iraq."
Wake up America! Wake up Free World! We are in the early stages of the struggle for our survival. The Islamic extremists intend to destroy the entire civilized world.
Our founding fathers thought our revolution was so important that they invested eight years and tens of thousands of lives in fighting for our freedom. And the world invested six years and some 60 million lives during WWII. These could pale in comparison to what must be invested in order to defeat the Islamic extremists. This cannot be accomplished in another year or even another 5 years. The seed of the Islamic extremists' hatred for the civilized world has been growing for decades. Burying our heads in the sand and pretending that this will all just go away only delays the inevitable.
President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair understand this, even if you or the main stream media don't. Their message has been quite clear the past 5 years. But the American people and the rest of the world continue to turn a deaf ear! You may not like the war. But it's not about whether you like it or not. The war is already ON! And we just have to deal with it--preferrably before the Islamic extremists obtain weapons of mass destruction. We can leave Iraq. But if we do so before they are able to sustain themselves, the Islamic extremists will turn Iraq into a launching pad.
There are only two outcomes to this war: We either defeat these Islamic extremists wherever they are, no matter the cost, no matter how long it takes; Or America and the entire civilized world no longer exists!
Posted by: James Danley | Dec 9, 2006 10:42:10 AM
"In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible."
Was that a Freudian slip, Bill? This is a perfect description of the White House denizens, the entire Bush Administration, and the GOP blowhards.
Posted by: Devil's Advocate | Dec 8, 2006 10:38:57 AM
"In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible."
Presumably Mr. Bennett wasn't in Washington (or the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln off san Diego) on May 1, 2003.
Posted by: Paul | Dec 7, 2006 3:19:52 PM
Bravo, Bernie, for your comments! You said in one great sentence what I tried to say in two crummy paragraphs! And Mad Mac, I was just trying to limit my comments somewhat, but you're absolutely right about Bennett's superiority complex appearing in at least 1981, if not before.
Posted by: chuck | Dec 7, 2006 3:06:15 PM
With regards to Mr. Bnnett's comments concerning smugness, arrogance and his inability to have seen it before, I strongly urge Mr. Bennett to purchase a mirror and he can gaze at it all he wants.
Posted by: bernie | Dec 7, 2006 1:36:20 PM
arrogance > ignorance > incompetance
Posted by: an analyst | Dec 7, 2006 1:09:53 PM
Continuing the Sinai analogy, we bring you Bill Bennett at the foot of Mount Sinai:
"Pay no attention to that hate-filled idolator worshipping his stone tablets of lies!! Be strong and true and bow before the Golden Calf of the One True God!! The Golden Calf is just and glorious and has never led us astray!! I, the pious, abstemious and wise priest beloved of God command that you obey Him and serve the Calf!!"
Posted by: NH Dem | Dec 7, 2006 12:49:04 PM
My only disagreement with Chuck's entry is that he seems to limit the application of the final paragraph to Bennet's time in D.C. when in fact it describes his every act and attitude since 1981 when Reagan gave him a national platform with an appointment to the Nat'l Endowment for the Humanities. The only word Bennet omitted that characterizes himself is "Hypocritical."
Posted by: Mad Mac | Dec 7, 2006 11:44:53 AM
I can't believe what I've just read! "In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible." This from Bill Bennett? Obviously, Mr. Bennett has suffered a severe case of amnesia, since he is conveniently forgetting the time when HE was in Washington, serving as a harsh moral scold to everyone and anyone who dared have different opinions or even to disagree with him. Now this gambling addict who is so eager to pass judgment on others' behavior is attempting to assess the value of the ISG's recommendations? I find that TRULY pathetic.
In dismissing the ISG's work, Mr. Bennett seems to overlook the need to build consensus in an atmosphere where extreme partisanship has flourished, and the need for ALL ideas to be discussed. The penultimate paragraph of his excerpted comments is perhaps the most telling of all, though: he seems to believe that the war in Iraq could be won with the implication that we were correct to engage in it in the first place. Talk about smugness and arrogance!
Posted by: chuck | Dec 7, 2006 10:56:27 AM
Just because Bush is the "commander in chief", he does not have any special rights. Reapplying jt's words, Bush has blatantly shown smugness, arrogance, AND insufferable moral superiority over those he strongly disagree with. And this why we have a mess in Iraq.
Posted by: tom | Dec 7, 2006 10:37:08 AM
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