Has Bush Given Up on Immigration?

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post that Bush "chose to turn the other cheek."

It's true Bush didn't respond with a personal attack -- but I wouldn't call it turning the cheek, either. The clear implication in Bush's long-winded and familiar-sounding non-response was that people who criticize him, such as Carter, are weak and hate freedom.

From the transcript:

"Q Mr. President, Jimmy Carter unleashed some fairly harsh criticism of you over the weekend. We're you surprised by this, and do you take much stock in what he said?

"PRESIDENT BUSH: Steve, you know, I get criticized a lot from different quarters, and that's just part of what happens when you're President. And I will continue to make decisions that I think are necessary to protect the American people from harm. I will continue to make decisions based upon certain principles, one of which is my strong belief in the universality of freedom.

"We're at war with an enemy that is relentless and determined, and it's essential that the decisions I make protect the American people as best as we can. And it turns out my presidency is such that we talk about how -- with strong allies -- how to defend ourselves. I firmly believe that in order to protect America we must go on the offense against radicals, extremists, murderers in order to protect not only ourselves, but our allies.

"And I also realize that we're involved in an ideological struggle, that these murderers, these radicals, these extremists have got a point of view. If you want to find out what their point of view is about, look what happened in Afghanistan under the brutal relationship of the Taliban and al Qaeda. On the one hand, if you're a woman and spoke out, or a woman and tried to advance, you were suppressed, in brutal fashion sometimes. And in the meantime, an enemy that hates America, plotted and planned.

"And so, look, I understand some people are -- may not agree with the decisions I make. But what the American people need to know, I'm making them based upon what's best for this country."

And for the record, Mark Leibovich writes in the New York Times that "there have been several instances of 'when ex-presidents attack' over the years. As recently as a few months ago, former President Gerald R. Ford criticized Mr. Bush's Iraq policy, albeit from the grave. In an article in The Washington Post, Bob Woodward quoted from an interview he conducted with Mr. Ford with the understanding that he could only publish Mr. Ford's remarks after he died.

"Eisenhower was critical of John F. Kennedy's domestic policies, the first President Bush pounded on Bill Clinton, now his pal, for his Haiti policy, and Nixon chided the first President Bush (for comparing himself to Harry Truman in his 1992 re-election campaign)."

Reuters Interview

Bush sat down with Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland for an interview on Air Force One yesterday, on the way back to Washington from Crawford. Here is the full transcript.

Bush didn't make much news related to Iraq. Holland writes: "President George W. Bush said on Monday he believes September will be an "important moment" to assess the extent of progress in Iraq under his much-criticized troop buildup plan."