Bush sets record-longest vacation in recent history

[Tigger_Magic]

I don't think I'll enjoy my vacation until they come home.

Gee, maybe we should declare a moratorium on all vacations until all the troops come home.

 

[transparant]

From NEWSWEEK: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8941525/site/newsweek/

'I'm So Sorry'
In emotional private meetings with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush offers solace—and seeks some of his own.

By Holly Bailey and Evan Thomas
Newsweek
Aug. 22, 2005 issue - The grieving room was arranged like a doctor's office. The families and loved ones of 33 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan were summoned to a large waiting area at Fort Bragg, N.C. For three hours, they were rotated through five private rooms, where they met with President George W. Bush, accompanied by two Secret Service men and a photographer. Because the walls were thin, the families awaiting their turn could hear the crying inside.


President Bush was wearing "a huge smile," but his eyes were red and he looked drained by the time he got to the last widow, Crystal Owen, a third-grade schoolteacher who had lost her husband in Iraq. "Tell me about Mike," he said immediately. "I don't want my husband's death to be in vain," she told him. The president apologized repeatedly for her husband's death. When Owen began to cry, Bush grabbed her hands. "Don't worry, don't worry," he said, though his choking voice suggested that he had worries of his own. The president and the widow hugged. "It felt like he could have been my dad," Owen recalled to NEWSWEEK. "It was like we were old friends. It almost makes me sad. In a way, I wish he weren't the president, just so I could talk to him all the time."

Bush likes to play the resolute War Leader, and he has never been known for admitting mistakes or regret. But that does not mean that he is free of doubt. For the past three years, Bush has been living in two worlds—unwavering and confident in public, but sometimes stricken in private. Bush's meetings with widows like Crystal Owen offer a rare look inside that inner, private world.

Last week, at his ranch in Texas, he took his usual line on Iraq, telling reporters that the United States would not pull out its troops until Iraq was able to defend itself. While he said he "sympathized" with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, he refused to visit her peace vigil, set up in a tent in a drainage ditch outside the ranch, and sent two of his aides to talk to her instead.

Privately, Bush has met with about 900 family members of some 270 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The conversations are closed to the press, and Bush does not like to talk about what goes on in these grieving sessions, though there have been hints. An hour after he met with the families at Fort Bragg in June, he gave a hard-line speech on national TV. When he mentioned the sacrifice of military families, his lips visibly quivered.


All war presidents find ways to deal with the strain of sending soldiers off to die. During the Vietnam War, LBJ used to pray after midnight with Roman Catholic monks. Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, prayed with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church on the eve of the first gulf war. For George W. Bush, these private audiences with the families of dead soldiers and Marines seem to be an outlet of sorts. (They are perhaps harder for Laura, who sometimes accompanies Bush and looks devastated afterward.) Family members interviewed by NEWSWEEK say they have been taken aback by the president's emotionalism and his sincerity. More complicated is the question of whether Bush's suffering is essentially sympathetic, or whether he is agonizing over the war that he chose to start.


Bush routinely asks to see the families of the fallen when he visits military bases, which he does about 10 times a year. It does not appear that the White House or the military makes any effort to screen out dissenters or embittered families, though some families decline the invitation to meet with Bush. Most families encourage the president to stay the course in Iraq. "To oppose something my husband lost his life for would be a betrayal," says Inge Colton, whose husband, Shane, died in April 2004 when his Apache helicopter was shot down over Baghdad. Bush does, however, hear plenty of complaints. He has been asked about missing medals on the returned uniform of a loved one, about financial assistance for a child going to college and about how soldiers really died when the Pentagon claimed the details were classified.

At her meeting with the president at Fort Hood, Texas, last spring, Colton says she lit into Bush for "stingy" military benefits. Her complaints caught Bush "a little off guard," she recalls. "He tried to argue with me a little bit, but he promised he would have someone look into it." The next day she got a call from White House chief of staff Andrew Card, who said the White House would follow up. "My main goal was to have him look at my son, look him in the eyes and apologize," says Colton. "I wanted him to know, to really understand who he has hurt." She says Bush was "attentive, though not in a fake way," and sometimes at a loss for words. "He didn't try to overcompensate," she says.

The most telling—and moving—picture of Bush grieving with the families of the dead was provided by Rachel Ascione, who met with him last summer. Her older brother, Ron Payne, was a Marine who had been killed in Afghanistan only a few weeks before Ascione was invited to meet with Bush at MacDill Air Force Base, near Tampa, Fla.

Ascione wasn't sure she could restrain herself with the president. She was feeling "raw." "I wanted him to look me in the eye and tell me why my brother was never coming back, and I wanted him to know it was his fault that my heart was broken," she recalls. The president was coming to Florida, a key swing state, in the middle of his re-election campaign. Ascione was worried that her family would be "exploited" by a "phony effort to make good with people in order to get votes."


Ascione and her family were gathered with 18 other families in a large room on the air base. The president entered with some Secret Service agents, a military entourage and a White House photographer. "I'm here for you, and I will take as much time as you need," Bush said. He began moving from family to family. Ascione watched as mothers confronted him: "How could you let this happen? Why is my son gone?" one asked. Ascione couldn't hear his answer, but soon "she began to sob, and he began crying, too. And then he just hugged her tight, and they cried together for what seemed like forever."

 

[BuckNaked]

Gee, maybe we should declare a moratorium on all vacations until all the troops come home.

I guess so, since I'm pretty sure that I've seen this same poster talking about a recent vacation he took...

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I guess so, since I'm pretty sure that I've seen this same poster talking about a recent vacation he took...

I would be interested in knowing how many people who are complaining about the President's "vacation" are postponing or canceling their vacations in order to set the proper example for the rest of us. Show of hands?

 

[richiebaseball]

I guess so, since I'm pretty sure that I've seen this same poster talking about a recent vacation he took...

Now, now. We should show compassion to those with BDR, Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Or pity at the very least.

Richard

 

[chobie]

Though I would certainly vote for Professor Mouse should he ever run for President, right now he's an ordinary citizen not the CIC at a time of war.

 

[BuckNaked]

Though I would certainly vote for Professor Mouse should he ever run for President,

 

[richiebaseball]

'I'm So Sorry'

In emotional private meetings with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush offers solace—and seeks some of his own.

By Holly Bailey and Evan Thomas
Newsweek

Aug. 22, 2005 issue - The grieving room was arranged like a doctor's office. The families and loved ones of 33 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan were summoned to a large waiting area at Fort Bragg, N.C. For three hours, they were rotated through five private rooms, where they met with President George W. Bush, accompanied by two Secret Service men and a photographer. Because the walls were thin, the families awaiting their turn could hear the crying inside.

President Bush was wearing "a huge smile," but his eyes were red and he looked drained by the time he got to the last widow, Crystal Owen, a third-grade schoolteacher who had lost her husband in Iraq. "Tell me about Mike," he said immediately. "I don't want my husband's death to be in vain," she told him. The president apologized repeatedly for her husband's death. When Owen began to cry, Bush grabbed her hands. "Don't worry, don't worry," he said, though his choking voice suggested that he had worries of his own. The president and the widow hugged. "It felt like he could have been my dad," Owen recalled to NEWSWEEK. "It was like we were old friends. It almost makes me sad. In a way, I wish he weren't the president, just so I could talk to him all the time."

Bush likes to play the resolute War Leader, and he has never been known for admitting mistakes or regret. But that does not mean that he is free of doubt. For the past three years, Bush has been living in two worlds—unwavering and confident in public, but sometimes stricken in private. Bush's meetings with widows like Crystal Owen offer a rare look inside that inner, private world.

Last week, at his ranch in Texas, he took his usual line on Iraq, telling reporters that the United States would not pull out its troops until Iraq was able to defend itself. While he said he "sympathized" with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, he refused to visit her peace vigil, set up in a tent in a drainage ditch outside the ranch, and sent two of his aides to talk to her instead.

Privately, Bush has met with about 900 family members of some 270 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The conversations are closed to the press, and Bush does not like to talk about what goes on in these grieving sessions, though there have been hints. An hour after he met with the families at Fort Bragg in June, he gave a hard-line speech on national TV. When he mentioned the sacrifice of military families, his lips visibly quivered.

All war presidents find ways to deal with the strain of sending soldiers off to die. During the Vietnam War, LBJ used to pray after midnight with Roman Catholic monks. Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, prayed with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church on the eve of the first gulf war. For George W. Bush, these private audiences with the families of dead soldiers and Marines seem to be an outlet of sorts. (They are perhaps harder for Laura, who sometimes accompanies Bush and looks devastated afterward.) Family members interviewed by NEWSWEEK say they have been taken aback by the president's emotionalism and his sincerity. More complicated is the question of whether Bush's suffering is essentially sympathetic, or whether he is agonizing over the war that he chose to start.

Bush routinely asks to see the families of the fallen when he visits military bases, which he does about 10 times a year. It does not appear that the White House or the military makes any effort to screen out dissenters or embittered families, though some families decline the invitation to meet with Bush. Most families encourage the president to stay the course in Iraq. "To oppose something my husband lost his life for would be a betrayal," says Inge Colton, whose husband, Shane, died in April 2004 when his Apache helicopter was shot down over Baghdad. Bush does, however, hear plenty of complaints. He has been asked about missing medals on the returned uniform of a loved one, about financial assistance for a child going to college and about how soldiers really died when the Pentagon claimed the details were classified.

At her meeting with the president at Fort Hood, Texas, last spring, Colton says she lit into Bush for "stingy" military benefits. Her complaints caught Bush "a little off guard," she recalls. "He tried to argue with me a little bit, but he promised he would have someone look into it." The next day she got a call from White House chief of staff Andrew Card, who said the White House would follow up. "My main goal was to have him look at my son, look him in the eyes and apologize," says Colton. "I wanted him to know, to really understand who he has hurt." She says Bush was "attentive, though not in a fake way," and sometimes at a loss for words. "He didn't try to overcompensate," she says.

The most telling—and moving—picture of Bush grieving with the families of the dead was provided by Rachel Ascione, who met with him last summer. Her older brother, Ron Payne, was a Marine who had been killed in Afghanistan only a few weeks before Ascione was invited to meet with Bush at MacDill Air Force Base, near Tampa, Fla.

Ascione wasn't sure she could restrain herself with the president. She was feeling "raw." "I wanted him to look me in the eye and tell me why my brother was never coming back, and I wanted him to know it was his fault that my heart was broken," she recalls. The president was coming to Florida, a key swing state, in the middle of his re-election campaign. Ascione was worried that her family would be "exploited" by a "phony effort to make good with people in order to get votes."

Ascione and her family were gathered with 18 other families in a large room on the air base. The president entered with some Secret Service agents, a military entourage and a White House photographer. "I'm here for you, and I will take as much time as you need," Bush said. He began moving from family to family. Ascione watched as mothers confronted him: "How could you let this happen? Why is my son gone?" one asked. Ascione couldn't hear his answer, but soon "she began to sob, and he began crying, too. And then he just hugged her tight, and they cried together for what seemed like forever."

Ascione's family was one of the last Bush approached. Ascione still planned to confront him, but Bush disarmed her in an almost uncanny way. Ascione is just over five feet; her late brother was 6 feet 7. "My whole life, he used to put his hand on the top of my head and just hold it there, and it drove me crazy," she says. When Bush saw that she was crying, he leaned over and put his hand on the top of her head and drew her to him. "It was just like my brother used to do," she says, beginning to cry at the memory.

Before Bush left the meeting, he paused in the middle of the room and said to the families, "I will never feel the same level of pain and loss you do. I didn't lose anyone close to me, a member of my family or someone that I love. But I want you to know that I didn't go into this lightly. This was a decision that I struggle with every day."

As he spoke, Ascione could see the grief rising through the president's body. His shoulder slumped and his face turned ashen. He began to cry and his voice choked. He paused, tried to regain his composure and looked around the room. "I am sorry, I'm so sorry," he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8941525/site/newsweek/

 

[Professor Mouse]

I guess so, since I'm pretty sure that I've seen this same poster talking about a recent vacation he took...

Yes, I have been on vacation and will do so again (I have only been on the hot seat 13 times at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It and want to get a few more trips in before the attraction is closed). However, I did not vote in favor of this unnecessary war and believe that it is truly the wrong war at the wrong time and place. The Iraqi war has actually made the Uniited States less safe because (a) Saddam was not a threat, (b) in order to prosecute this unnecessary war, we let Bin Laden escape Tora Bora, (c) Iraq is now the number one training grounds for terrorist and (d) our military is stretched so thin that we can not meet other obligations (hence Iran is free to thumb their nose at the US on the nuclear weapons front becasue Iran knows that there is little that the US can do)

I also have two military age children who will not be joining the military to fight in this "nobel" war. Why, because this war was a mistake and based on lies. On the other hand, the chickenhawks supporters this "nobel" war see nothing wrong with hiding from the armed forces while supporting a war that someone else has to fight. It is amusing to watch the responses from operation yellow elephant and to see all of the young republicans justify why they are not signing up. I did see that someone had some military applications forms in Crawford and some bush supportes scattered when asked why they had not signed up. Again, Bush needs to tell Ms. Sheehan why the twins have not signed up for the armed services if this war is so nobel.

I am not taking five weeks off (actually Bush is taking far more time off if you add all of his other trips). Bush on the other hand lied to justified the war. Bush fixed the facts and the intelligence to justify this unnecessary war. Bush is the one who thinks that it is okay for him to "get on with his life" rather than answer some hard questions about Iraq from Cindy Sheehan. Bush can take some time from his bike riding and his "getting on with his life" to talk to Cindy Sheehan.

BTW, I would love to have five weeks off a year but that is a different issue.

 

[BuckNaked]

OK, now that I've stopped laughing, I can respond to this properly.

Though I would certainly vote for Professor Mouse should he ever run for President, right now he's an ordinary citizen not the CIC at a time of war.

No he isn't. He did however post an editorial that said that none of us should be enjoying vacations until the troops are all home. I'm just curious as to how many people agree with that idea.

 

[BuckNaked]

Yes, I have been on vacation and will do so again (I have only been on the hot seat 13 times at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It and want to get a few more trips in before the attraction is closed).

Then why did you post the op-ed talking about how none of us should be enjoying our vacations?

 

[bsnyder]

Yes, I have been on vacation and will do so again (I have only been on the hot seat 13 times at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It and want to get a few more trips in before the attraction is closed). However, I did not vote in favor of this unnecessary war and believe that it is truly the wrong war at the wrong time and place. The Iraqi war has actually made the Uniited States less safe because (a) Saddam was not a threat, (b) in order to prosecute this unnecessary war, we let Bin Laden escape Tora Bora, (c) Iraq is now the number one training grounds for terrorist and (d) our military is stretched so thin that we can not meet other obligations (hence Iran is free to thumb their nose at the US on the nuclear weapons front becasue Iran knows that there is little that the US can do)

I also have two military age children who will not be joining the military to fight in this "nobel" war. Why, because this war was a mistake and based on lies. On the other hand, the chickenhawks supporters this "nobel" war see nothing wrong with hiding from the armed forces while supporting a war that someone else has to fight. It is amusing to watch the responses from operation yellow elephant and to see all of the young republicans justify why they are not signing up. I did see that someone had some military applications forms in Crawford and some bush supportes scattered when asked why they had not signed up. Again, Bush needs to tell Ms. Sheehan why the twins have not signed up for the armed services if this war is so nobel.

I am not taking five weeks off (actually Bush is taking far more time off if you add all of his other trips). Bush on the other hand lied to justified the war. Bush fixed the facts and the intelligence to justify this unnecessary war. Bush is the one who thinks that it is okay for him to "get on with his life" rather than answer some hard questions about Iraq from Cindy Sheehan. Bush can take some time from his bike riding and his "getting on with his life" to talk to Cindy Sheehan.

BTW, I would love to have five weeks off a year but that is a different issue.

FYI, Kyle. The correct word, in this context is NOBLE, not NOBEL.

 

[richiebaseball]

Yes, I have been on vacation and will do so again (I have only been on the hot seat 13 times at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It and want to get a few more trips in before the attraction is closed). However, I did not vote in favor of this unnecessary war and believe that it is truly the wrong war at the wrong time and place. The Iraqi war has actually made the Uniited States less safe because (a) Saddam was not a threat, (b) in order to prosecute this unnecessary war, we let Bin Laden escape Tora Bora, (c) Iraq is now the number one training grounds for terrorist and (d) our military is stretched so thin that we can not meet other obligations (hence Iran is free to thumb their nose at the US on the nuclear weapons front becasue Iran knows that there is little that the US can do)

I also have two military age children who will not be joining the military to fight in this "nobel" war. Why, because this war was a mistake and based on lies. On the other hand, the chickenhawks supporters this "nobel" war see nothing wrong with hiding from the armed forces while supporting a war that someone else has to fight. It is amusing to watch the responses from operation yellow elephant and to see all of the young republicans justify why they are not signing up. I did see that someone had some military applications forms in Crawford and some bush supportes scattered when asked why they had not signed up. Again, Bush needs to tell Ms. Sheehan why the twins have not signed up for the armed services if this war is so nobel.

I am not taking five weeks off (actually Bush is taking far more time off if you add all of his other trips). Bush on the other hand lied to justified the war. Bush fixed the facts and the intelligence to justify this unnecessary war. Bush is the one who thinks that it is okay for him to "get on with his life" rather than answer some hard questions about Iraq from Cindy Sheehan. Bush can take some time from his bike riding and his "getting on with his life" to talk to Cindy Sheehan.

BTW, I would love to have five weeks off a year but that is a different issue.

Spoken like a true chickendove.

Richard

 

[sodaseller]

FYI, Kyle. The correct word, in this context is NOBLE, not NOBEL.

In the President's mind, it is likely the latter. A more narcissistic human has rarely been seen

 

[bsnyder]

In the President's mind, it is likely the latter. A more narcissistic human has rarely been seen

Unless we include Kyle!

 

[ThAnswr]

Though I would certainly vote for Professor Mouse should he ever run for President, right now he's an ordinary citizen not the CIC at a time of war.

Subtlies like that are lost on the righties.

For the enjoyment/eye opening of the peanut gallery, let's hope it continues.

 

[ThAnswr]

Now, now. We should show compassion to those with BDR, Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Or pity at the very least.

Richard

And let's all show our pity (and compassion, but that's starting to wear thin) to those suffering from BBS.........Bush Bull**** Syndrome.

 

[sodaseller]

This has to go down as the most egotistical staement I have seen, and that includes pols, none of whom, save Lincoln, are known for humility

Link

The war on terror goes on. I was most impressed by the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve. And that is we will not yield to these people, will not yield to the terrorists

I though that was the most bizaare statement I had seen until his "I have to get on with life my exercising statement" above. I cringe because he is so inappropriate any time he is not scripted, and not just by world leader standards - these statements would be inappropriate in any context. And we know that he must speak extemporaneously in meetings with other world leaders. That is a disturbing thought. And it is not a matter of politics. While I might disagree with Sec'y Rice politically, I have every confidence that she will always express the US position with clarity and a modicum of appreciation that there are other humans in te world

 

[ThAnswr]

Unless we include Kyle!

Please, Bet, stop you're killing me.

 

[bsnyder]

And it is not amtetr (sic) of politics.