A White House Intervention

Hmmmm… maybe the dominoes are beginning to fall after all.

Okay… at first “Iraqtember” ® (as I am now dubbing it and calling dibs on) was a true threat by republicans to “President” Bush… then some decided to call it a reach around to give him more time… now, it looks as though Iraqtember is a true threat to Bush’s “strategy” (and I use that term very, very loosely) in Iraq.

In a sign of the ever-growing crevice between the White House and some republicans over the war, a handful of media outlets (NBC News, CNN, WaPo) are reporting that eleven repulican members of Congress, led by Reps. Mark Kirk (IL) and Charlie Dent (PA) had a blunt meeting earlier this week with Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Bush Rice, Defense Secretary Robert “Don’t call me Rummy” Gates, White House political adviser Karl “President” Rove and presidential press secretary Tony “Job” Snow.

The “Iraqi Eleven” ® (as I am now calling them) were: John Boehner (OH), Michael Castle (DE), Dent (PA), Tom Davis (VA), JoAnn Emerson (MO), Jim Gerlach (PA), Kirk (IL), Ray LaHood (IL), Todd Platts (PA), Jim Ramstad (MN) & James Walsh (NY).

The topic of the meeting was Iraq… and the Iraq 11 were NOT happy with the current course or the current “strategy”, with one of the eleven calling the discussion the “most unvarnished conversation they’ve ever had with the president,” while White House mouthpiece NBC’s Tim Russert said that the meeting “may have been a defining pivotal moment” in the Iraq debate.

The highlight, for me anyway because it shows just how far this president has fallen within his own party, was when one of the eleven said that; “the word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There is no longer any credibility.”

Finally!! Someone within the republican party has finally realized that “President” Bush has no credibility left… all it took was over 3,000 lives lost.

Today, Rep Ray LaHood (R-IL) said that Bush was taken aback by the concerns expressed by the congressional delegation, with LaHood saying;

“He listened very carefully. I think he was a little — I don’t know if surprised is the right word, probably maybe sobered. The fact is that, I don’t know if he’s gotten that kind of opinion before in such a frank and no holds barred way but he was very sober about it and he listened very intently.”

LaHood went on to say that the congressional delegation expressed concerns to Bush about the political impact the war is having on their congressional districts… in other words, they’re scared shitless that they’re going to lose re-election when the time comes.

Maybe I’m being naïve, but I truly think that this is the first serious clink in the Bush’s armor… he’s no longer the ‘Teflon President’… his own party is starting to question him, and that is certainly good news and leaves me with an air of cautious optimism… and if these eleven can round up, say, 60 additional disgrunted republican Representatives and a handful of republican Senators, then we can be a little bit more optimisitc and a little less cautious.

Also… I seem to remember from history class and such that near the end of Nixon’s reign of terror that a group of republicans went to the White House to talk to him about Watergate and his plunging approval numbers…

Sound familiar?

It should… it certainly seems that Bush is getting his “Nixonian” moment… and with 28% approval ratings, you have to wonder how much farther can Bush go.

Stay tuned…