Think Progress has the video, here is the transcript from tonight’s NBC News. Tim Russert reports on a bit of a palace revolt.
WILLIAMS: Tonight we’re also able to report new and exclusive details on the politics of the war in Iraq, specifically involving President Bush and members of his own party. For that we are joined by our Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert. What do we know?
RUSSERT: Brian, all eyes on the Republican Party. How long will they support the president’s position on the Iraq war? Yesterday may have been a defining pivotal moment. At 2:30 in the afternoon in the private quarters of the White House, the Solarium room, 11 Republican congressmen had a private meeting with the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the chief political adviser Karl Rove and the White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and others. It was headed by Mark Kirk of Illinois and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. It was, in the words of one of the parties, the “most unvarnished conversation they’ve ever had with the president.” Another member said he has met with three presidents and never have been so candid. They told the president, and one said, “My district is prepared for defeat. We need candor, we need honesty, Mr. President.” The president responded, “I don’t want to pass this off to another president. I don’t want to pass this off, particularly, to a Democratic president,” underscoring he understood how serious the situation was. Brian, the Republican congressman then went on to say, “The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There is no longer any credibility. It has to come from Gen. Petraeus.” The meeting lasted an hour and 15 minutes and was, in the words of one, “remarkable for the bluntness and no-holds-barred honesty in the message delivered by all these Republican congressmen.”
WILLIAMS: And Tim, in the seconds remaining, how did the president react, and how then did this affect the instructions for Vice President Cheney heading off to Iraq.
RUSSERT: One congressman said, “How can our sons and daughters spill their blood while the Iraqi government goes on vacation?” The president responded, “The vice president is over there to tell them, do not go on vacation.”
Tim, as always, thanks.
I find it interesting that this delegation was led by Charlie Dent and Mark Kirk. Dent is a second-term congressman from Allentown, Pennsylvania. He sits on the Homeland Security and Transportation committees, but he has no seniority. Mark Kirk is a fourth-term congressman from Northbrook, Illinois. He sits on Appropriations, but he also has no seniority. Kirk is the U.S. Naval Reserves, and has been since 1989. Russert doesn’t say who the other nine congresspeople were, but it doesn’t sound like they were particularly high ranking either.
Update [2007-5-10 1:10:46 by BooMan]: Via the NYT’s the “delegation included Representatives Mark Kirk of Illinois, another leader of the moderate coalition; Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania; James T. Walsh of New York; and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri.” Plus, Minority Leader Boehner (who let others speak), Ray LaHood of Illinois, and Tom Davis of Virginia.
In what was in Washingtonspeak ‘a frank exchange of views’, they told the President that he has no more credibility and that any news about Iraq must not come from the White House, but directly from General Petraeus. One of these Congressmen told the President that his district is ‘ready for defeat’. (Aside: I don’t know why Republicans insist on defining things as victory vs. defeat).
This seems like somewhat of a watershed moment. It’s significant that these are rank and file Republicans. They went around the leadership to talk to the President and his team directly. And it sounds pretty clear that they communicated their refusal to mouth Rove’s talking points and remain resolved. The moment we’ve been waiting for seems to have arrived. The Republicans are cracking. We just need to keep the pressure on.
