Bush: ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’

[clambake]

Minus the republicans that are now turning on him.

Too little, too late.

[SA210]

Snow Falsely Claims Bush Said ‘Stay The Course’ Only 8 Times (Actually, It’s At Least 30)

video: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/24/...ay-the-course/


On Sunday, President Bush told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that his Iraq policy has “never been stay the course.” (Today, Rumsfeld disagreed, calling suggestions they were backing away from the phrase “nonsense.”)

Moments ago on Fox News, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said “we went back and looked today and could only find eight times where he [Bush] ever used the phrase stay the course.”

Apparently, the White House research team isn’t very good at “the Google.” ThinkProgress has do ented 30 times that Bush has used the phrase to describe his policy in Iraq:

Digg It!

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century. [8/30/06]


BUSH: Stay the course also means don’t leave before the job is done. And that’s - we’re going to get the job done in Iraq. [8/11/06]

BUSH: As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course. [7/11/06]

BUSH: And I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed. [6/19/06]

BUSH: If we don’t lose our nerve, if we stay the course, someday down the road, an American President will be working with democratically-elected leaders in the broader Middle East at the table to keep the peace. [3/24/06]

BUSH: Some critics continue to assert that we have no plan in Iraq except to, “stay the course.” If by “stay the course,” they mean we will not allow the terrorists to break our will, they are right. If by “stay the course,” they mean we will not permit al Qaeda to turn Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban - a safe haven for terrorism and a launching pad for attacks on America - they are right, as well. If by “stay the course” they mean that we’re not learning from our experiences, or adjusting our tactics to meet the challenges on the ground, then they’re flat wrong. [11/30/05]

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]

BUSH: And so the United States of America will stay the course and we will complete the task. We’ll help Iraq develop a democracy and the world will be better off for it. [11/21/04]

BUSH: My message is that - is that we will stay the course and stand with these people so that they become free. [9/23/04]

BUSH: We will stay the course so that they can develop an army and police force of their own so they can defend themselves. [9/13/04]

BUSH: We must stay the course until the job is done. [8/13/04]

BUSH: But Americans are used to hard work when it comes to a cause greater than ourself. And that’s what we’re doing. And we’ll stay the course. [4/20/04]

BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. [4/16/04]

BUSH: And we will stay the course in Iraq so that his son did not die in vain. [4/15/04]

BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course; we’ll complete the job. [4/13/04]

BUSH: We will stay the course in Iraq. [4/6/04]

BUSH: So we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]

BUSH: You know, I told the family how much we appreciated his sacrifice - he was killed in Iraq - and assured him that we would stay the course. [4/5/04]

BUSH: I met with the family of a fellow who - who was killed in Iraq. … I told the - I told the dad, and the mom, and the wife that we’d stay the course. [4/5/04]

BUSH: This country will stay the course and get the job done. [4/2/04]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, because a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will make the world more peaceful. [1/23/04]

BUSH: And we will stay the course until the job is done. [1/12/04]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]

BUSH: I was able to assure them that we were going to stay the course and get the job done, but I also reminded them what I said publicly, that it’s up to them to seize the moment, to have a government that recognizes all rights, the rights of the majority and the rights of the minority, to speak to the aspirations and hopes of the Iraqi people. [11/27/03]

BUSH: We will stay the course, and as more and more Iraqis realize freedom is precious and freedom is a beautiful way of life, they will assume more and more responsibilities, not only for security, but for humanitarian reasons, as well. [11/14/03]

BUSH: It’s in the national interest of the United States that a peaceful Iraq emerge. And we will stay the course in order to achieve this objective. [10/27/03]

BUSH: And we’ll just stay the course. [10/22/03]

BUSH: We talked about Iraq. And I told him and assured him that the United States would stay the course because we believe freedom is on its way to the Iraqi people. [7/14/03]

BUSH: We’re making steady progress. A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it’s very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course. [7/10/03]

BUSH: Not only does the war on terror go on, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in Iraq. And we’re going to stay the course until the job gets done. [6/5/03]

[ChumpDumper]

I expect the disingenuousness by now, but the sheer amateurism shown in handling this is just sad. Was this a calculated cessation of the use of the term or did a flustered Bush just make a gaffe that prompted his handlers to ditch the term to keep him from looking contradictory and foolish?

[xrayzebra]

Well as far as I know, we are going to stay the course,
not cut and run as you folks would like.

[ChumpDumper]

Well as far as I know, we are going to stay the course

You're not allowed to say that anymore.

not cut and run as you folks would like.

But we are leaving. There's a timetable to make a timetable.

[SA210]

These guys love using and playing with words.

Estate Tax becomes "Death Tax"
Wiretapping becomes "Terrorist Surveillance Program"
Torchure becomes "Aggressive Interrogation Program"

Timeline or timetables have been changed to "Benchmarks"

October 26th, 2006 4:31 am
Bush's Proposal of 'Benchmarks' for Iraq Sounds Familiar



By Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post

The text of President Bush's news conference yesterday ran to nearly 10,000 words, but what may have been more significant were the things he did not say.

The president talked repeatedly about "benchmarks" for progress in Iraq, using that word 13 times. But he did not discuss the consequences of the Iraqi government missing those targets. Such a question, he said, was "hypothetical."

That response left unclear how the benchmarks would be different from previous times when the United States has set out intentions, only to back down. For example, the original war plan envisioned the U.S. troop presence in Iraq being cut to 30,000 by the fall of 2003. Last year, some top U.S. commanders thought they would be able to significantly cut the U.S. troop level in Iraq this year -- a hope now officially abandoned. More recently, the U.S. military all but withdrew from Baghdad, only to have to have to reenter the capital as security evaporated from its streets and Iraqi forces proved unable to restore calm by themselves.

President Bush also spoke several times yesterday about his flexibility, apparently as a way of countering critics calling for a major change in his approach to Iraq. But he made it clear that he was talking about tactical adjustments , rather than the kind of sweeping strategic revision being mulled by the Iraq Study Group led by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former representative Lee H. Hamilton, and also being urged by a host of members of Congress and political pundits.

More briefly, he touched upon establishing Iraqi security forces. But he did not use his old favorite phrase about U.S. troops "standing down as they stand up." He mentioned the goal of training about 325,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers, but he did not address the paradox that as that goal is neared, violence has intensified and the insurgency appears as robust as ever. Nor did he note that after U.S. forces stood down in Baghdad, they had to stand back up again. Instead, without offering much explanation, he said that "we are refining our training strategy for the Iraqi security forces."

At the same time, the president's tone has changed markedly. Gone was the talk of past Bush administration news conferences about "steady progress" in Iraq and all the good news that the media was said to be ignoring there. Instead he began yesterday's session with a straightforward and even grim account of the events of the past month in Iraq. He noted the deaths of 93 U.S. soldiers over the past 25 days. "I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq," he said. "I'm not satisfied either." So, he said, the American effort in Iraq is "constantly adjusting our tactics."

Yet under his sober mien and a newfound insistence on adaptability, he appeared to be quietly digging in his heels. "Our goals are unchanging," he emphasized in his opening remarks. "We are flexible in our methods to achieving those goals."

His bottom line was that "we'll work as fast as we can get the job done." That open-ended commitment to an unchanging goal doesn't seem different from the answer being given by Bush administration officials three years and 2,802 U.S. military deaths ago -- that the U.S. effort in Iraq would last "as long as it takes."

Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking minority member on the Armed Services Committee and a member of the intelligence committee, said Bush "has dropped the rhetoric, but the policies are the same."

Kurt Campbell, a Clinton-era Pentagon official and co-author of a new book on defense politics, interpreted the president's comments as an effort to patch up differences within the Republican Party over Iraq and to aid candidates facing close elections in two weeks. "It was meant to appeal to both the 'stay the course' crowd and the 'we need a responsible change' crowd," he said. But Campbell said he expected a major strategic revision on Iraq soon after that vote, predicting that "the political dynamics are going to change radically after the election."

Vin Weber, a lobbyist and former Republican member of Congress with ties to the White House, said he thought the president more broadly was trying to appeal to the American public as it loses faith in his Iraq policy. "Basically, the bottom has fallen out," he said. "The public is on the verge of throwing up its hands over Iraq." He agreed with Campbell that the domestic politics of the Iraq situation are going to alter in a few weeks, perhaps in unpredictable ways that will be shaped by the outcome of the midterm elections.

But former New York governor Mario M. Cuomo (D) said he thought that the president actually was laying the groundwork for disengaging from Iraq. "I think the war is virtually over," he said. By emphasizing benchmarks, Cuomo said, "what he is saying is, 'We are going to leave it to the Iraqis.' "

Under a barrage of sharp questions from reporters, pointing again and again to contradictions and problems in his stance on Iraq, President Bush clung to his most basic line of defense -- his own faith and confidence in his approach. He used the word "believe" 21 times in the course of the hour-long news conference.

"I believe that the military strategy we have is going to work, that's what I believe," he said to one reporter.

Staff writer Walter Pincus contributed to this report.

[clambake]

How do Xray?

The situation should be termed "cut and dried". Not a day goes by that Bush doesn't change the meaning of one or more talking points.

That's what failure will lead you to. "This is what I really meant............." and the fans soak it in.