White House Insiders
Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 20, 2004; 11:00 a.m. ET
What is the latest buzz within the Bush administration? How is the White House handling the run-up to the Republican convention? Will the 9/11 Commission's final report influence the election?
Washington Post White House correspondent Dana Milbank takes your questions and comments on President Bush, the current administration and covering the White House on Friday, Aug. 20 at 11 a.m. ET.
Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.
White House Insiders is a show featuring Washington Post staff writers Mike Allen and Dana Milbank. Every two weeks, one or both will take your questions on the White House, the president and the Bush administration.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Dana Milbank: Good morning from Crawford, Texas, where leaden skies and the occasional lightening strike hang over the Bush ranch. The White House press corps, camped out in a nearby gymnasium, is waiting, so far fruitlessly, for news. On the positive side, there is an excellent buffet here in the gymnasium, and many fine questions awaiting me online, so here we go.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Dana,
I'd like to know just how unique the Bush-Cheney campaign's control of audiences is? Is it unprecedented? Has the president appeared before the ordinary public in any campaign venue?
Dana Milbank:
All campaigns make some effort to control access to the candidates' events. There's little to be gained by inviting in a bunch of hecklers. The Bush strategy appears to go a bit beyond the usual though, with some RNC events requiring attendees to sign a loyalty oath before getting a ticket. My colleague Rich Leiby wrote about the Ohio professor who wore a Bush T-shirt to a Kerry rally unmolested, but was evicted from a Bush rally when he showed up in a Kerry T-shirt. I think it's sensible to make crowds friendly, though this might be a bit over the top.
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Ellicott City, Md.:
Is there a reason why the White House will not condemn the ads by the Swift boat group? Do you see their not condemning it as hurting them?
Dana Milbank: It's interesting. The White House thinks it's covered by condemning all ads by "independent" groups, so it doesn't need to condemn this specific one. As was mentioned in yesterday's briefing, though, the questioning of Kerry's Vietnam record also happened at a Bush event last week and the president did not knock down the subject once a questioner floated it. It seems likely that the White House, and President Bush, will continue to be pressed on the question, particularly after Kerry's "bring it on" challenge to Bush about a compare-and-contrast of their Vietnam records.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
Does President Bush drink alcholoic beverages? I recently read comments attributed to Bush at his nephew's wedding where Bush said he was happy to be there drinking Andre campagne with him to celebrate.
I know he quit hard liquor (Jim Beam in his own words) but I got the impression from your book about the 2000 campaign and the above that the President still drinks alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and champaigne.
Dana Milbank: Oh, dear. Surely he wouldn't go off the wagon for Andre. At least some Bollinger, please.
I am so certain the rumor is untrue that if proven otherwise I will drink a quart of motor oil.
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North Bergen, N.J.:
It seems it's mostly evangelical Christians who are peopling the staged "Ask President Bush" events. Is that correct, or is it simply that remarks like "God is in the White House" are more apt to generate copy? If, in fact, only the evangelical base bothers to attend these Bush rallies, does that suggest that the administration has failed to engage other elements of the Republican base, such as financial-conservatives? Certainly, the drive to have churches turn over directories to the RNC has the whiff of desperation about it, if not illegality. washingtonpost.com:
Bush Q&A's Are All on the Same Side, (Post, Aug. 19)
Dana Milbank: It does seem to be a heavily evangelical audience for most of these events. You can check the transcripts for yourself on the White House web site to see the tone of the questions. I was struck Wednesday night in St. Paul by 200 members of a choir from the faith-based group Teen Challenge, who throughout Bush's speech held aloft crosses made with Bush campaign thunder sticks.
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washingtonpost.com:
White House Web Site
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Plano, Tex.:
Does it bother you that you are well known as the poster child for the "liberal medial elite?"
Dana Milbank: It seems I've got a friend down the road in Plano. Here's another question sent this morning from that same metropolis:
"Plano, Tex.: Since you are well known as a Bush hater, don't you think it would be better for someone more objective to report on the President? It's pretty obvious you are unable to control your bias in your reporting.
By the way, do you really think we need an example of what "Enter Your city and state" means above? We aren't as stupid as you in the press think we are."
Surely the liberal media elite can find a better looking poster boy than me.
Not long ago, I was named by a left-wing web site as "Media Whore of the Week" for my sycophantic coverage of the Bush administration. So the moral of the story is people with their own axes to grind will accuse journalists of just about everything, even demeaning them by showing them how to input city and state into a web chat.
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Los Angeles, Calif.:
Hey Milbank,
You're creating quite a name for yourself.
Keep up the good work.
As Ted Koppel said once before in a report for Nightline, "When you stop hearing from the powers that be, that's when you know you've lost your touch." If Rove and crew are calling your editors, you know you are telling it like it is.
Cheers!
Dana Milbank: Ah, now that's more like it. And the folks in L.A. apparently do not feel belittled by the city/state instructions.
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Houston, Tex.:
I don't understand where Kerry gets off asking the president to condemn the Swift Boat vets, when he and the liberal interest groups have been attacking the president for months (i.e., Fahrenheit, comparing Bush to Hitler, etc.) Why doesn't Kerry take care of his own house first, and why doesn't the media insist on this as well?
Dana Milbank: Loads of questions on the Swift Boats/Vietnam today. It's truly amazing how events of 35 years ago continue to resurface as presidential issues.
To your specific question, Kerry gets off asking the president to condemn the Swift Boat group because Kerry himself, at McCain's urging, condemned a Move On ad attacking Bush's National Guard service.
But in a larger sense, what you're seeing from Kerry is a much belated realization that they shouldn't be on the defensive on this issue as they were a couple of months ago when the whole debate was about whether Kerry threw away his ribbons or his medals.
It's clear the issue isn't going away right now, but it's not clear how it will cut; doubts about circumstances around Kerry's war decorations could raise more questions about Kerry's character, but the discussion could also remind people that Kerry was in combat in Vietnam and Bush was in the Texas/Alabama guard and has incomplete records.
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Kennesaw, Ga.:
Hello, Mr. Milbank. The Pentagon has been considering modernizing the permanent overseas deployments of American forces for years now, so it doesn't come as a complete shock that a plan for shuffling units out of Germany and Asia was announced this week.
But the timing of the announcement, by President Bush at a campaign rally, seems to be completely a product of campaign politics. What exactly did the White House expect to get out of doing this, besides a couple of days worth of headlines?
Dana Milbank: It's an interesting predicament. Basically everything the president does for the next 75 days will be considered political. White House press secretary Scott McClellan, who once referred political questions to the campaign, now fields them.
Obviously, not much in the way of legislation is going to be accomplished before the election. But perhaps its sensible for Bush to unveil policy proposals in campaign speeches. Then the election can be a referendum on matters such as a new troop posture.
A few weeks back, Bush was in Florida to talk about sex trafficking, and he made a big deal about the problem in Cuba. Those who care deeply about the issue were distressed that my article focused on the politics. But when the president goes to Florida this close to an election and talks about Cubans, I see little way around the politics.
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Texans are Idiots:
Oops, guess I didn't figure out how to use that city and state field. If only I had an example!
Dana Milbank: Don't worry. This will become less of a problem under the No Child Left Behind law.
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Washington, D.C.:
Crawford: Better or worse than Kennebunkport?
Dana Milbank:
Crawford is way better. Actually, we stay in nearby Waco. It has 4 -- count 'em 4 -- Starbucks locations now, a big Barnes & Noble, and a state-of-the-art gym we can use at Baylor University. Uncle Dan's brisket, and the Gut-Pack at Vitek's BBQ, beat a Maine lobster roll any day. And there's never any traffic on the way to the beach here. OK, so there isn't a beach here. But there's Cricket's Bar & Grill, and they serve Jaegermeister liquer -- on tap!
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Ignore My Question Because It's a Conservative City:
you're hilarious...you really are...keep up the good
work. I'm neither liberal nor conservative, just
cynical... sounds like you fall into the same lively
camp!
Dana Milbank: Please, people. Follow the instructions.
Example:
City: Plano
State: Texas
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Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.:
Why is Colin Powell not attending the RNC? His choice, or an order (explicit or implied)?
Dana Milbank: Mountain out of a Powell.
Secretaries of State are supposed to be above the fray, so I doubt there was ever consideration of Powell speaking in New York.
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Washington, D.C.:
My understanding is that the Cosi sandwich shop at 15th and K has suffered a disturbing rash of purse-snatchings and altercations recently.
Don't a lot of Post reporters eat there?
Have you personally been affected by these troubling incidents?
Dana Milbank: Sounds like things have gotten pretty rough back in Washington. That's why I'm staying here in Texas until it's safe to go home. But I think I'll stay clear of Plano.
That's all for now. They're about to replace breakfast with lunch at the Crawfor gymnasium's Atkins buffet...
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