Random Comments (RH)

[Locutus]

The go for it big boy.  I've learned that no matter what I give as proof ya'll are gonna discount it anyway so who gives a rats ass. 

So what's the source for that statement?

[me]

So what's the source for that statement?

It all goes back to me doing some research at the library because what I needed had been scrubbed from the internet.  I had made one misstatement and, poof, it made the whole thing, even though it was true, void according to the powers that be on here. 

[me]

He was doing a lot of things he would have been doing from the WH.  I'll dig for more later.

Bush Takes Monthlong Texas Vacation

By Carter M. Yang
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 3

For the next 30 days, it will be home on the ranch for President Bush.

With his administration 6 months old, Bush is set to shed the confines of the White House and head to his sprawling ranch in Crawford, Texas, to begin a monthlong, outside-the-Beltway retreat.

"I'm headed home to the heartland to listen to the American people and to talk about the values that unite and sustain our country," Bush said in a Rose Garden speech this afternoon.

'A Little Fishing, ... A Little Policy'

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters the chief executive was also looking forward to "enjoying a little down time, a little running and a little cedar clearing."

"He'll do a little fishing on the ranch, I'm sure he'll have friends and family over to the ranch, he'll do a little policy, he'll keep up with events," Fleischer added.

Why is the commander in chief spending four weeks in a small central Texas town outside Waco?

"I think it is so important for a president to spend some time away from Washington," he told the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree last week.

Since taking office 196 days ago, Bush has spent plenty of leisurely days away from Washington, including 23 at his Crawford ranch, 36 at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland and a four-day weekend at his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne Slater says Bush showed the same affection for vacations when he was governor of Texas.

"George Bush was religious about wanting to take time off," said Slater.

Former President Ronald Reagan, who made frequent visits to his ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., while in office, said the commander in chief never really goes off the clock, no matter where he is.

"Presidents don't get vacations — they just get a change of scenery," he said in 1985. "You're still president ... The job goes with you."

Bush expressed similar sentiments as he vacationed in Kennebunkport in July.

"The amazing thing about this job ... is that the job seems to follow you around," he told reporters.

'Working Vacation,' Bush Aides Insist

The president and his aides call the upcoming Crawford vacation a "home-to-the-heartland visit" and have dubbed the sprawling 1,600-acre ranch the "Texas White House."

Fleischer insisted today the month away from the White House would not be all rest and relaxation.

"It's going to be a working vacation — it's going to include parts work and parts vacation," he said, noting that Bush would receive daily intelligence briefings, except on Sundays, and would travel for two days out of every week for various public events.

"He will be based in Crawford, Texas, but will, from there, travel to the rest of America to meet with a wide variety of Americans to listen to their concerns," Fleischer said.

White House officials said the president planned to help build a house at a Habitat for Humanity event in nearby Waco next week, followed by trips to Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other states later in the month.

Aides to Bush say he may also make a much-anticipated political announcement while at the ranch.

The president has been wrestling with whether or not to allow federal funding for controversial embryonic stem-cell research. Doctors say the research hold the promise for debilitating diseases like diabetes and Parkinson's, but opponents say the studies are immoral because they use cells derived from human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.

The president's retreat is timed to coincide with the August congressional recess, when lawmakers head home to their districts. That mass exodus got under way this afternoon.

"Members of Congress are going home as well," Bush pointed out today.

A monthlong retreat is not without precedent, but no president has been away from the White House for a full 30 days since Richard Nixon. When he returns from Crawford in September, Bush will have spent nearly 40 percent of his days as president at his ranch or at Camp David.

But presidential historian Michael Beschloss says even if the trend continues, it will likely have little impact on Bush's presidency.

"There's almost no relationship between the number of hours you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office and how good a president you are," he said.

ABCNEWS' Josh Gerstein and Terry Moran contributed to this report from the White House.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121420&page=1&singlePage=true#.UV3CADfUhtg

[me]

http://www.crawford-texas.org/id1.html

http://www.democracynow.org/2005/4/26/bush_meets_longtime_saudi_ally_in

[Bo D]

What a doofus! I asked for proof of her statement that "Obama rarely attends" briefings and this is how she responds. 

Besides, and I repeat ...What is BAD is when a president attends a briefing and ignores what is being discussed. As in "Bin Laden determined to attack in the U.S.". George WMD Bush.


IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning's "presidential daily brief" — the top-secret document prepared by America's intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.

[me]

http://www.redstate.com/2012/09/30/obama-skips-intel-briefings-wapo-fact-checker-covers-it-up/

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/09/11/obama-has-held-more-fundraisers-than-intel-briefings-since-campaign-began/

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/09/24/898081/kessler-thiessen-intel-breifing-bogus-misleading/?mobile=nc
Did PDBs exist when Clinton was President? 

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/11/president-mia-on-daily-intelligence-briefings/

http://g-a-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/GAI-Report-Presidential-Daily-Brief-A-Time-Based-Analysis-FINAL-DOC.pdf

[Bo D]

Besides, and I repeat ...What is BAD is when a president attends a briefing and ignores what is being discussed. As in "Bin Laden determined to attack in the U.S.". George WMD Bush.


IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning's "presidential daily brief" — the top-secret document prepared by America's intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.

[Exterminator]

But hey, way to use articles from a bunch of neocon websites as your source!

[Anne]

Besides, and I repeat ...What is BAD is when a president attends a briefing and ignores what is being discussed. As in "Bin Laden determined to attack in the U.S.". George WMD Bush.


IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning's "presidential daily brief" — the top-secret document prepared by America's intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.

Someday I will look up again the date and time that Mr. Clinton's daily security briefing included a report about Al Qaeda Planning to attach the US using commercial air planes. If you are interested I found it in a book about Mrs. Clinton titled "Her Way". I guess Mr. Clinton also ignored the warnings.

[Exterminator]

Someday I will look up again the date and time that Mr. Clinton's daily security briefing included a report about Al Qaeda Planning to attach the US using commercial air planes. If you are interested I found it in a book about Mrs. Clinton titled "Her Way". I guess Mr. Clinton also ignored the warnings.

And you know this how?  Did terrorists attack the U.S. using commercial planes when Clinton was president?

[me]

Besides, and I repeat ...What is BAD is when a president attends a briefing and ignores what is being discussed. As in "Bin Laden determined to attack in the U.S.". George WMD Bush.


IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning's "presidential daily brief" — the top-secret document prepared by America's intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.

And then there's Benghazi.

[Anne]

And you know this how?  Did terrorists attack the U.S. using commercial planes when Clinton was president?

Well, lets see. How do you know he did do something? If he did anything, it obviously was a failure or the attack never would have happened. He was offered BenLaden once and declined. Did the report Mr. Bush get say anything about air planes flying into buildings? I never saw that part if it did. You can't have it both ways.

[Bo D]

Did the report Mr. Bush get say anything about air planes flying into buildings? I never saw that part if it did.

Yes. It did!

Highlights of the report include:

• An intelligence report received in May 2001 indicating that al Qaeda was trying to send operatives to the United States through Canada to carry out an attack using explosives. That information had been passed on to intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

• An allegation that al Qaeda had been considering ways to hijack American planes to win the release of operatives who had been arrested in 1998 and 1999.

• An allegation that bin Laden was set on striking the United States as early as 1997 and through early 2001.

• Intelligence suggesting that suspected al Qaeda operatives were traveling to and from the United States, were U.S. citizens, and may have had a support network in the country.

• A report that at least 70 FBI investigations were under way in 2001 regarding possible al Qaeda cells/terrorist-related operations in the United States.

[Anne]

And Mr. Clinton was warned specifically about airplanes being hijacked on December 4, 1998, that Al Qauda and Ben Laden were planning to use air planes in a terrorist attack, and a report was given to US Intelligence stating planes could be used  to crash into the Pentagon, White House and CIA headquarters in September 1999. If he knew this for the last two years of his presidency, why couldn't he prevent it? If he couldn't then how do you think Mr. Bush could have prevented the attacks on 9/11? You know that if there had been anything that could have been done, it would have been done. That report was August 6, 2001, and it only says allegations, not much to work with, imo.

[Palehorse]

He was doing a lot of things he would have been doing from the WH.  I'll dig for more later.

. . .
Former President Ronald Reagan, who made frequent visits to his ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., while in office, said the commander in chief never really goes off the clock, no matter where he is.

"Presidents don't get vacations — they just get a change of scenery," he said in 1985. "You're still president ... The job goes with you."

. . .
'Working Vacation,' Bush Aides Insist. . .


"It's going to be a working vacation — it's going to include parts work and parts vacation,"
"There's almost no relationship between the number of hours you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office and how good a president you are," he said.. . .

. . .

As has been the case with every POTUS when they held office, and yet somehow you want to infer it is different for this president? Really? Why? Because he's black? 

Bush spent 3 of his 8 years as POTUS "on vacation" according to your interpretation of the term.