The President the People and the War

Tony Snow is continuing the Bush tradition of framing the debate in a way that trivializes the role of the American people and shields the White House from accountability.
A classic example is Tony Snow's latest slippery offering, "Polls Won't Influence Iraq Strategy" defending the Bush administration's determination to remain in Iraq.

The irony is that if the American people resist the inevitable media disinformation campaign and the mendacious spin, there will some serious backpeddling before the November elections. There is no administration more poll driven than the Bush administration.

Below is the letter I sent to the White House. It is an attempt to put the debate back where it belongs; out of the hands of the Madison Avenue spin doctors and into the hands of the people.

Mr. President

Your new press secretary stated today that the decision to remain in Iraq will not be influened by poll data. There is a problem with his statement.
He responding to the wrong question.

No one expects the president to make decisions on matters as serious as war based on political polls.

What Americans do want to know is
whether you acknowledge that you have lost the support of the
American people in prosecuting this war.

The question Americans have is whether the president
is going to be responsive to the will of the people.

In spite of the poor press coverage and lack of
accountability, Americans now understand that we are in Iraq for
all the wrong reasons.
They understand that the war is going badly and that
this is no realistic scenario for improvement.

They do not agree with your decision to continue to waste the lives of our soldiers. They do not support throwing additional billions of dollars into the black hole ofIraq.

They don't believe the rhetoric that the world is safer and
that they are better off with our soldiers in Iraq.
The facts don't support it. You are squandering their trust.

Some very bad decisions were made. There is a price to pay for those decisions.

Continuing to execute bad decisions only delays the due date and adds
interest; it doesn't erase the debt.

Carol DW