Bush sets record-longest vacation in recent history

[JoeEpcotRocks]

Give it a rest, you couldn't care less about that family's grief. If you did, you'd stop trashing his mother.

Her inane protests are getting trashed, not her grief.

 

[ThAnswr]

Those on the Left, do you ever wonder what Casey Sheehan would have to say about his mother's protest? Does the thought ever cross your mind?

No, it doesn't cross my mind because I don't know him. How could I possibly know what he would think. And any attempt to insert his thoughts into this discussion would not only be ghoulish, but self-serving and nothing more than speculation.

OTOH, Cindy Sheehan did know Casey Sheehan.

 

[ThAnswr]

Not squirming here. My candidates won the election. And elections DO matter. Perhaps that's why there's such a desperate quality to the Cindy Sheehan media circus. The Left thinks they've finally found "The Secret Weapon". If it wasn't so exploitative of a family's grief, and a dead soldier's honor, it would be amusing.

Bush's numbers were tanking long before he went on vacation.

 

[peachgirl]

Here's another grief stricken family you can trash...


Marine's parents make plea to Bush

'Fight this war right or get out,' mother says after son's funeral


CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- The day after burying their son, parents of a fallen Marine urged President Bush to either send more reinforcements to Iraq or withdraw U.S. troops altogether.

"We feel you either have to fight this war right or get out," Rosemary Palmer, mother of Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder II, said Tuesday.

Schroeder, 23, died two weeks ago in a roadside explosion, one of 16 Ohio-based Marines killed recently in Iraq.

The soldier's father said his son and other Marines were being misused as a stabilizing force in Iraq.

"Our comments are not just those of grieving parents," Paul Schroeder said in front of the couple's home. "They are based on anger, Mr. President, not grief. Anger is an honest emotion when someone's family has been violated."

Palmer accused the president of refusing to make changes in a war gone bad.

"Whether he leads them out by putting more troops on the ground or pulling them out -- he can't just let it continue," she said.

White House spokesman Allen Abney declined comment other than to refer to remarks Bush made last week.

At a news conference Thursday, the president said: "Pulling troops out prematurely will betray the Iraqis. Our mission in Iraq, as I said earlier, is to fight the terrorists, is to train the Iraqis."

The Ohio couple have long opposed the war and tried to dissuade their son from joining the Marines, but have made their views public only since his death. On Tuesday they urged Americans to voice their opposition to the war.

"We want to point out that 30 people have died since our son. Are people listening?" Palmer asked.

More than 1,800 U.S. servicemen and women have been killed in the war.

On Monday, dozens of people, including several holding large American flags, lined the streets leading to the funeral for Schroeder, known to friends and family as "Augie" based on his middle name, August.

"Yesterday, it was Augie's day and we didn't want to intrude upon his day with politics," Palmer said. "We have to move on and keep his spirit alive by helping to protect his buddies who are still out there."

The couple applauded Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who has camped out in protest near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, for bringing the war to the public's attention.

"We consider her the Rosa Parks of the new movement opposing the Iraq war," Palmer said.

On posterboards, Schroeder displayed photos of his son -- being cradled the day he was born; a blond boy eating corn on the cob; and the last photo the couple received of him, smiling in uniform, holding a Pepsi can and a rifle.

Their son went to Iraq filled with optimism about the mission but gradually became disillusioned with the war's progress, his parents said.

"He said the longer it went on the less and less worth it seemed," Palmer said. "They're not doing the job right now. It's not the fault of the troops. It's the fault of the plan."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/16/marine.family.ap/index.html

See what you can dig up about these people.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Hmmmm...I myself was ripped by the right because someone thought I might be posting on the Dis while I was at work (btw, I wasn't and I don't). Hell, I even got some really interesting emails from people threatening to track me down and report me to my employer.

Funny how I didn't see any conservatives jumping to my defense...in fact a lot of them thought it was a perfectly acceptable question and the threats?? Oh well, those were the breaks I was told.

It was fair then, it's fair now.

I think it is sad when someone has nothing of value to contribute to a discussion that they choose to stoop to ad hominem attacks.

However, it is interesting that you are surprised no conservatives jumped to your defense. I think it's called karma.

But you are correct... too often what goes around comes around.

Still sad...

 

[Tigger_Magic]

And any attempt to insert his thoughts into this discussion would not only be ghoulish, but self-serving and nothing more than speculation.

I wonder if this includes Cindy Sheehan.

Mother or not, it's impossible for anyone to know what someone else is thinking... unless you are Miss Cleo.

 

[peachgirl]

However, it is interesting that you are surprised no conservatives jumped to your defense. I think it's called karma.

But you are correct... too often what goes around comes around.

I never said I was surprised, I said it was funny. Trust me, I neither want nor need that kind of conservative jumping to my aid.

I absolutely agree, it's definitely Karma and I'm happy to see what went around coming around.

 

[shortbun]

Not sure I understand to stabs at her but even folks on these boards that are very busy at their jobs dip into the DIS during the day. IT seems a pretty effective way of relieving the tension of the day. Not much different than folks taking smoking breaks and such. Do we maintain that government employees cannot ethically do that? There isn't any real logic to the notion that you can't do both.

So, you endorse our government workers all spending as much time on the internet in personal discussions as Brenda? You think they all need stress reductions and that THIS type of debating and arguing relieves tensions; Brenda seeming like a stress and tension free individual to you? This is your position? I think the White House, the Department of Defense and various other admin folks might have a different opinion. As a tax payer and someone who posts ONLY in my free time, I prefer people working for our already burdened government give 100% to their jobs. I'm sure Brenda can find plenty of time while she is NOT AT WORK to post on the DIS as it is obviously very important to her. Private sector companies are finding that when they block their employees from personal surfing, they recover up to 60% of lost productivity.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Bush's numbers were tanking long before he went on vacation.

And we know how very important poll numbers are to this President.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I never said I was surprised, I said it was funny. Trust me, I neither want nor need that kind of conservative jumping to my aid.

I absolutely agree, it's definitely Karma and I'm happy to see what went around coming around.

I was always taught to be careful of what I wished for.

It's sad you find joy in seeing karma "bite" someone else. Karma is a big cycle that's never truly finished. Having been bitten by it once, one would think you'd have some empathy. Some lessons are harder to learn than others.

 

[BuckNaked]

So, you endorse our government workers all spending as much time on the internet in personal discussions as Brenda? You think they all need stress reductions and that THIS type of debating and arguing relieves tensions; Brenda seeming like a stress and tension free individual to you? This is your position? I think the White House, the Department of Defense and various other admin folks might have a different opinion. As a tax payer and someone who posts ONLY in my free time, I prefer people working for our already burdened government give 100% to their jobs. I'm sure Brenda can find plenty of time while she is NOT AT WORK to post on the DIS as it is obviously very important to her. Private sector companies are finding that when they block their employees from personal surfing, they recover up to 60% of lost productivity.

Yeah, an average of 2 posts per day...I'm really burning it up, aren't I?

 

[Galahad]

Private sector companies are finding that when they block their employees from personal surfing, they recover up to 60% of lost productivity.

If the DOD gets worried about it they can do the same thing.

I don't really think your opposition to her has much to do with whether she's posting on government time while making that enormous paycheck. I just checked into a political thread thinking I was going to see arguments about protesters, vacations, etc. and the posts are all about the personal habits of the people posting. Seemed a bit strange to me, that's all.

To answer your question - I don't support government personnel wasting tax payer dollars. I don't think this is a very significant example of that.

 

[ThAnswr]

And we know how very important poll numbers are to this President.

Is it your contention Bush doesn't pay attention to polls?

Puhleeeze, you're killing me.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Is it your contention Bush doesn't pay attention to polls?

 

[Geoff_M]

Forgive me for interrupting this latest MoveOn DIS Board Meet-up House Party thread, but here's an interesting personal observation I found on this whole issue:

Cindy sealed the deal.
I actually felt myself become a republican today. It was around 10am, when I read the latest update of the Cindy Sheehan saga in CNN.com. I then shot over to read some blogs about it, and perused the comments in some of them, which was nothing but a long series of petty (albeit entertaining) partisan bickering.

Then it happend. The good little democrat in me tied the little noose around his neck and jumped off the stool. He just couldn’t take it anymore.

Take what? The whining. The constant whining by the extreme left about the reasons for war, the incompetence of this administration, and how we’ve all been lied to, and how we should pull out of Iraq immediately, because, *gulp* our soldiers were in danger.

Guess what folks….they signed up to join the Army, not the boy scouts. Anytime your orientation to a new job involves an automatic weapon, you should be smart enough to figure out there’s danger involved. I actually read some people’s comments about many of the soldiers over there being naive….they weren’t expecting to go to war, so, they should be allowed to go home. Wow.

http://www.scottrandolph.net/2005/08/17/cindy-sealed-the-deal/

It's just one person's comments, but I find the anti-war left's choice of "Mother Sheehan" as the latest horse to try and mount just surreal.

 

[BuckNaked]

If the DOD gets worried about it they can do the same thing.

I don't really think your opposition to her has much to do with whether she's posting on government time while making that enormous paycheck. I just checked into a political thread thinking I was going to see arguments about protesters, vacations, etc. and the posts are all about the personal habits of the people posting. Seemed a bit strange to me, that's all.

To answer your question - I don't support government personnel wasting tax payer dollars. I don't think this is a very significant example of that.

Nope, it's not. I don't know how other people's jobs work, but at mine, workload swings wildly. Some days there is tons of work, some days there is some work, some days there is little to no work. Whatever work I have to do, I do. That means if I get it done before the end of the day, I go home on time. If I don't, I stay until it is done, period.

 

[ThAnswr]

And how did you come to this conclusion?

 

[ThAnswr]

Forgive me for interrupting this latest MoveOn DIS Board Meet-up House Party thread,

Too cutesy..........I give it a "3".

 

[peachgirl]

It's sad you find joy in seeing karma "bite" someone else.

That's hilarious since you were rather pleased to make comments about karma in regards to me.

You certainly seem to be awfully sad today.

Btw...Despite my tongue in cheek comments regarding karma...I don't believe in it at all so you can quit threatening me with the fear that it's going to sneak up on me in the middle of the night and bite me in the ***.

 

[sodaseller]

Green

But in fact, the Bush administration is a frequent consumer of polls, though it takes extraordinary measures to appear that it isn't. This administration, unlike Clinton's, rarely uses poll results to ply reporters or congressional leaders for support. "It's rare to even hear talk of it unless you give a Bush guy a couple of drinks," says one White House reporter. But Republican National Committee filings show that Bush actually uses polls much more than he lets on, in ways both similar and dissimilar to Clinton. Like Clinton, Bush is most inclined to use polls when he's struggling. It's no coincidence that the administration did its heaviest polling last summer, after the poorly received rollout of its energy plan, and amid much talk of the "smallness" of the presidency. A Washington Monthly analysis of Republican National Committee disbursement filings revealed that Bush's principal pollsters received $346,000 in direct payments in 2001. Add to that the multiple boutique polling firms the administration regularly employs for specialized and targeted polls and the figure is closer to $1 million. That's about half the amount Clinton spent during his first year; but while Clinton used polling to craft popular policies, Bush uses polling to spin unpopular ones---arguably a much more cynical undertaking.

Bush's principal pollster, Jan van Lohuizen, and his focus-group guru, Fred Steeper, are the best-kept secrets in Washington. Both are respected but low-key, proficient but tight-lipped, and, unlike such larger-than-life Clinton pollsters as Dick Morris and Mark Penn, happy to remain anonymous. They toil in the background, poll-testing the words and phrases the president uses to sell his policies to an often-skeptical public; they're the Bush administration's Cinderella. "In terms of the modern presidency," says Ron Faucheux, editor of Campaigns & Elections, "van Lohuizen is the lowest-profile pollster we've ever had." But as Bush shifts his focus back toward a domestic agenda, he'll be relying on his pollsters more than ever.