Bush acting stupid again/Jim Webb = Awesome

[Gabu]

Reading this, I would say that Webb is the one being a prick.  Bush asks him about his son, and Webb responds with a campaign slogan.

Of course, one could also comment on the fact that Bush started it by tangentially bringing up Iraq, knowing full well what Webb thought about Iraq.

I don't think either is particularly innocent here.

[Gabu]

So now he can't kindly bring up people that are serving without being attacked?

The tone of the conversation is obviously needed, but at the very least, Bush was not thinking very well to bring up with Webb someone who is in the middle of a war that Bush started and that Webb opposes and with whom Webb has a strong emotional bond.  He also did not at all handle Webb's response with much tact.

Like I said, neither person was particularly tactful.

[Gabu]

So because Bush "started" the war and the other man in question opposes it, he shouldn't ask how his son is doing? I don't understand that. Should the President not visit troops in the hospital because they might not support the war anymore?

Bush asked how Webb's son was doing in the midst of a war whose initiation, like it or not, was Bush's doing.  Webb replied that he'd like to see him come home, which is probably his son's feelings on the matter.  Then Bush gave Webb a completely snappy response and Webb replied in kind.

I don't see how either person is particularly more culpable than the other here.

[Gabu]

See, but that's not what he said.  He said "I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President."  He didn't respond regarding his son, he phrased it as a general policy point.  If he had said something like "I like to see him out of Iraq," that would have been more appropriate.

Okay, so it could have been phrased better so as not to sound like a campaign pitch, but still, the meaning would have been identical.

He probably still hasn't gotten out of campaign mode where every question asked of a candidate gets answered with a campaign plank.