Shore Enough

President George W. Bush's aircraft carrier production impressed MSNBC's Chris Matthews, a former Democratic political operative and a vociferous opponent of Bush's Iraq policy. Before Bush's address from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, recalling Bush's arrival via Navy jet in full pilot's gear, Matthews raved about how “Americans love having a guy as President, a guy who has a little swagger” since “we like having a hero as our President.” After the speech, he asserted that not since JFK have we seen “this kind of love of the troops for their Commander-in-Chief. These guys would take a bullet for this guy.”



"I liked what James A. Baker and Lee Hamilton reported back after a serious investigation of Iraq. I liked their ideas. And it's something that we should seriously consider .... By the way, in the report it said, it is—the government may have to put in more troops to be able to get to that position. And that's what we do. We put in more troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear—I'm the commander guy."

President George W. Bush