Let This Dog Go (3/1/02)
by Dean Hartwell
I was happy to hear
President Bush ordered Press Secretary Ari Fleischer to retract derogatory
comments that the Clinton Administration is responsible for the violence in the
Middle East. But I still wonder why Fleischer has not been fired yet.
During his year as a spokesman for the White House, Fleischer has done more to
call attention to himself than most of the typically low-key press secretaries
for recent presidents. For example, shortly after the events of September 11,
he took issue with "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher's comments
that the United States, not the terrorists, has "...been the cowards,
lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away." Controversy later arose
over the White House editing of Fleischer's response that "all Americans
need to watch what they say, watch what they do."
Fleischer has also angrily denounced all media recounts of the last
presidential election, especially those that show that Al Gore won. In short,
his temperament is an embarrassment not just to the White House, but also to
our nation.
President Bush should follow the advice of my book, Truth Matters: How the
Voters Can Take Back Their Nation, and hire people who will attack ideas
without attacking people. He would be better served by one who can analyze the
big picture of a problem like the one in the Middle East and present the
Administration's way of going about solving it. It is certainly not too late to
solve the problem in his own house: now is time to let this attack dog go.