The Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg proves to be a loyal note taker, right to the end [emphasis added]:

Yet to talk to people still inside the Bush White House is to come away with a sense that they do not feel defeated at all. Rather, having been through the crucible of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, two wars, a hurricane of biblical proportions and the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression, they describe a sense of achievement and honor in having served the country, and in particular this president.

As long as they feel good about themselves, right?