Last Friday President Bush, played by Gary Cooper in High Noon, began finally forcefully responding to the critics. He elaborated upon the disingenuousness of the opposition party, in particular in their talk about "lying" or "misleading" the country to war. I likened this to the retiring marshall, Will Kane, resigning himself to returning to face the paroled murderer who wants to kill him.
The pushback is continuing. It was all over the Sunday talk shows. It showed up in the unwillingness of Howard Dean to appear with Ken Mehlman on Meet The Press. Instapundit is talking about it. Jeff Goldstein is damn-near obsessed by it. Tom Maguire. Paul, John and Scott.
The question has to be asked. Why did the administration wait so long? Was it tied up in knots by the Plame Game investigation? Were VP Cheney's leg surgeries taking a key player out of the process? Was the uncertain status of Karl Rove handcuffing them? Were they waiting until after the Iraqi Constitution passed? Why wait? Why not push back early, to prevent the falsehoods from gaining a foothold.
Perhaps it is just serendipity. Perhaps the White House was asleep at the wheel, and just let this snowball roll too long. Or, maybe there's a strategy. Maybe they understand the short attention span of the American voter, and the timing is intentional, less than a year before the 2006 congressional elections. Did Karl Rove mastermind this, so that going into campaign season next year the lying will be seen to have been done by the other side?
Who knows. I'm just spitballing here.
11/14/05 2320: More links from Don Surber.
I'd be surprised if they wanted to pushback at all - they're probably happier with "out of sight/out of mind." They've only been forced to do this because the senate democrats have forced their hand.
After all, the chattering classes may be persuaded by arguments, evidence, etc. - but most people that vote probably don't pay as much attention. They just see that Iraq is in the news again, and that's, at best, a mixed blessing for the president at the moment.
Posted by: jpe | Nov 16, 2005 at 01:04 PM
I think your last supposition is probably the most likely. Approval ratings only matter during the election cycle and this could all be an elaborate "Rove-a-dope" strategy to get the Democrats so confident that they spout off and talk themselves out of having any credibility on the issue. I guess we will soon see how it all plays out.
Posted by: Woody | Nov 16, 2005 at 07:13 PM
Ack! I just re-read the post. Talk about your mixed metaphors!
Perhaps the White House was asleep at the wheel, and just let this snowball roll too long.
How about "Perhaps the White House was drowsy at the wheel, and has let the car cross the rumble strips on the way to the guardrail."
Posted by: Giacomo | Nov 16, 2005 at 08:54 PM
I'm sure that once they decided it was time to push back, a Veteran's day start date was chosen for greatest impact.
Posted by: Anna | Nov 16, 2005 at 10:14 PM