OnePeople

Two Democrats Call Bush Out

The New York Times covered accusations of crass politicking by two Congressman against the Bush administration. What makes this especially newsworthy is that both Congressmen are currently on a week-long tour of Iraq. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Washington) said "You don't start out by putting the gun to their head and saying we're going to shoot you if you blink," and that President Bush was willing to "mislead the American people" about the need for war, saying that the alternating "Al Qaeda Connection" and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" rationale coming from the White House was suspicious. Representative David Bonior (D-Michigan) was not quoted on anything as radical as that, but was standing next to McDermott.

Both are clearly not happy with the way the President is conducting the war, and they drew the Republican ire: "both sound somewhat like spokespersons for the Iraqi government," says Senator Don Nickels (R-Oklahoma). It is customary to not criticise the President on his conduct of international affairs ("politics stops at the water's edge," the saying goes) so this affair underscores how deep the inter-party divisions run on this issue.

Shame on the Times for not publishing the White House response. The AP has White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe asserting that Bush has made "very clear case" on Iraq, and "the American people know he hasn't misled anyone and the American people know he won't mislead anyone."

CNN seems to be working off a different script altogether. It has Rep. Bonoir worried that the President is creating a "self-fulfilling prophecy" regarding inspections. Rep. McDermott responds to his critics in this article, saying that "dissent is an American right. Without it, it's not a democracy." Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison likes dissent as well, but she is "very concerned when a member of Congress goes to Baghdad and talks against a United States president's administration and policies. I think that does cross the line."

A seperate CNN has Ari Fleischer in support of dissent, after a fashion: "It's his right to say anything he wants, no matter how foolish, and he exercised that right."