A Working Vacation

Sometimes, I can't believe the propaganda trash that passes for hard news at The New York Times.

I know it's a liberal rag. It freely publishes leaks containing information that could compromise our national security. It's reasonable to argue that it has an anti-American agenda.

Arthur Sulzberger has made it clear on many occasions that he will do anything he can to derail the Bush presidency, showing no regard for the safety of Americans at home or the troops abroad.

None of that is funny; but this article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg is such a reach that you have to laugh.

Unlike last summer, when the media obsessed about President Bush's vacation, this year there have been relatively few mentions of his LONG absence from Washington.

For one, his vacation is shorter this year.

Mainly, I think the reason that there's less talk about Bush's Texas downtime is that there's so much else for the media to cover. The Israeli - Hezbollah conflict has kept the media busy -- so many photos to doctor, so much news to stage. Moaning about Bush's long vacation isn't a priority this summer.

That's what makes this article in The Times noteworthy.

A day after the disruption of the biggest terrorist plot since 9/11, The Times chooses to highlight Bush's vacation time and question his engagement in protecting the nation.

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug 10 -- President Bush tried to assure Americans on Thursday that antiterrorism measures taken since the Sept. 11 attacks had made them safer while acknowledging that danger remained — part of a balancing act in which his aides portrayed him as deeply involved in dealing with the foiled airline plot even as he continued his vacation here.

How silly is that?

"His aides portrayed him as deeply involved...even as he continued his vacation."

That is funny, in that MoveOn, Michael Moore, Leftist wacko way.

As Americans stood in long lines at airports, Mr. Bush went ahead with his planned trip to Wisconsin to raise money for a Republican Congressional candidate and to speak about the economy during a stop at a metal factory. He made brief remarks about the arrests in Britain on the tarmac of the airport in Green Bay, saying the plot was “a stark reminder” of the threat from “Islamic fascists.”

What is the President supposed to do?

Is it his fault that terrorists are plotting to kill Americans by blowing commercial planes out of the sky?

The fact that there needs to be heightened security that results in lines at airports is no reason for Bush to alter his schedule.

Was he supposed to go to an airport and help screen passengers instead of coming to Green Bay?

“The country is safer than it was prior to 9/11,” he said in Green Bay. “We’ve taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously, we’re still not completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in.”

He later flew back to his ranch here, and aides said there were no plans for him to cut short his stay.

Democrats seized on Mr. Bush’s decision not to return to Washington as evidence that the president was disconnected.

Several senior Republican strategists were also uneasy with the possibility that images of President Bush’s activities in the past week, including bicycle rides in the 100-degree Texas heat, could be used to accuse him of being too casual about the potential terrorist threat.

I'd like the names of the "several senior Republican strategists." They are clueless and a drag on the Party.

Only an idiot would think that President Bush doesn't know what's going on.

Guess what?

He has access to phones at the ranch and when he's on the road!

White House officials said Mr. Bush was kept closely apprised of the investigation, through classified briefings conducted in a secure trailer on the ranch. Mr. Bush was at the ranch on Wednesday afternoon when his homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, called to tell him the arrests were imminent; the two spoke several times throughout the evening, a senior administration official said, and by late Wednesday night, with the bulk of the arrests having been made, the president signed off on the plan to raise the threat level.

This paragraph shows how lame the article is.

Clearly, Bush is not disconnected. Stolberg details that he's completely engaged.

But now that Americans have learned of the plot, some Republicans, when promised anonymity so they could speak freely about their criticisms, said Mr. Bush had to be careful not to appear out of touch, as his critics and even some of his allies said he did last summer when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

At a time when Congressional Republicans are facing tough re-election battles at home, they lamented that the president was not doing more to seize the mantle of national security.

“A policy of casual nonchalance is not a winning strategy,” said one Republican close to the White House, who suggested that the president should, at the least, deliver a primetime television address from the Crawford ranch.

I could not care less what these anonymous Republicans think.

I think its funny that The Times will protect Republican Bush critics, but it will race to publish leaks that compromise national security.

Yes, The Times is so concerned about protecting "some Republicans," but when the White House appeals to the paper to hold a story, forget it.

Instead, Mr. Bush stuck to his schedule; after Thursday’s metal plant tour, he attended a fund-raiser for John Gard, a candidate for an eastern Wisconsin Congressional seat; the event raised $500,000. On Friday, he will travel down the road from his ranch, Prairie Chapel, to the Broken Spoke, a neighboring ranch, for another fund-raiser.

So what?

Isn't Stolberg aware of Times columnist Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat?

Newsflash: You're connected even if you're at the Broken Spoke.

“The government functions even when the president is residing in Texas,” said Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president. “The president is never off the job; he has been working around the clock, as the American people would expect.”

One high-level administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said White House aides were concerned that the president would be open to accusations he was politicizing the crisis if he responded dramatically. This official said a decision had been made in part for the president to keep a low profile and allow the event to speak for itself.

Again with the speaking on condition of anonymity.

What a joke!

So either Bush is disconnected or he's exploiting the event -- damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

During his vacation in Crawford, which began last Thursday, the president’s public comments have been focused largely on the Middle East, particularly over the weekend and Monday, when he was joined at the ranch by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser.

I think that would be because the Middle East is on the front burner.

This terror plot just became public.

But over the past 7 to 10 days, according to a senior administration official who spoke anonymously about how Mr. Bush handled the plot inquiry behind the scenes, it became clear that the British investigation had “a significant U.S. element to it.” By Friday, the investigation had become “a significant focus” of the president’s morning intelligence briefings, the official said.

While Ms. Rice and Mr. Hadley were at the Crawford Middle School on Sunday, taping appearances on the morning talk shows about the crisis in Lebanon and Israel, Mr. Bush spent 47 minutes on the telephone with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. “At that point here was no sense of timing as far as when the takedown would take place,’’ the official said.

Stolberg again is making the point that Bush is engaged.

That began to change late Tuesday and early Wednesday, and by Wednesday afternoon, with the arrests imminent, Ms. Townsend placed her call to Mr. Bush at the ranch. Though the arrests continued through the night, Mr. Bush was not awakened.

“By the time he went to bed more than half the operation had already taken place,” the official said. “The key people that we were particularly concerned about had already been arrested.”

Unbelievable.

Is Bush supposed to stay up around the clock monitoring everything?

That's ridiculous.

By Thursday morning, with Mr. Bush headed for Wisconsin to deliver a speech on the economy during the metal factory tour, the question at the White House was how the president should address the public.

Last month, Mr. Bush used a speech on the economy at the port of Miami to talk about the Middle East. This time, he spoke directly to the press corps at the airport, in the shadow of Air Force One at a microphone set up for his arrival.

...The remarks lasted two minutes, and the president took no questions.

I think the President said all that needed to be said.

Should he have been bouncing around doing a victory dance about foiling the plot? That wouldn't have gone over too well.

I wonder. Exactly how many minutes of remarks would have satisfied the libs? And why would he take any questions?

The Times desperately wants to bash Bush's handling of the thwarting of this terror plot, but there's absolutely nothing there to bash.