Matthews: “How can you not trust” Bush?

Written by Ben Armbruster

Published

During a discussion about President Bush's recent public relations campaign to rally support for the war in Iraq, Chris Matthews said: “How can you not trust a man who says, 'I won't be able to win this war in my presidency; I'm leaving it up to other presidents in the future'?”


On the March 22 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews discussed President Bush's recent public relations campaign to rally support for the war in Iraq with Republican strategist Ed Rogers and Democratic strategist Steve McMahon. McMahon asserted that "[p]eople don't believe this president, they don't trust this president, and it's moved over into character issues," to which Matthews replied: “How can you not trust a man who says, 'I won't be able to win this war in my presidency; I'm leaving it up to other presidents in the future'?”

Matthews was referring to a response Bush gave during his March 21 White House press conference after a reporter asked Bush if he could “assure [the American people] that there will come a day when there will be no more American forces in Iraq.” Bush answered, "[T]hat, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq." He then added, “You mean a complete withdrawal? That's a timetable. I can only tell you that I will make decisions on force levels based upon what the commanders on the ground say.”

From the March 22 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

McMAHON: His approval ratings have dropped to a level you haven't seen since Richard Nixon. People don't believe this president, they don't trust this president, and it's moved over in to character issues.

MATTHEWS: How can you not trust a man who says “I won't be able to win this war in my presidency; I'm leaving it up to other presidents in the future”? You're basically taking a real -- what do they call it? Not an umbrella defense. A prevent defense. You're saying basically, “OK, I'm not going to win this war.”

ROGERS: He's moved the goal post.

MATTHEWS: He's moved the goal post. He said, “I'm not going to win this in the next three years, boys and girls. You're gonna have to live with this.” This is a long term -- I think [Secretary of State] Condi Rice was the first to use a “generational struggle” [to describe the Iraq war] .

While suggesting that his viewers should trust the president because of Bush's acknowledgement that the U.S. is not going to prevail in Iraq during his own presidency, Matthews failed to address whether previous claims about Iraq by the Bush adminstration -- "Mission Accomplished," the insurgency in Iraq is in "the last throes," and the U.S. is winning in Iraq -- also should have earned him the public's trust.