Democrats seize on Woodward book

Official administration reaction was relatively muted. Bush did not address the reports during remarks at a political rally Thursday night in Alabama for Gov. Bob Riley, and Rumsfeld refused to comment on the book — for which he was interviewed extensively.

“First of all, I haven’t read it,” Rumsfeld told reporters Friday when asked about the book during a NATO meeting in Slovenia. “Second, I don’t know what you’re referring to. And third, you can find someone in government to say almost anything you want.”

Snow makes administration’s case
It was left to Snow to carry the attack. The book put the White House in an especially awkward position because it had so enthusiastically embraced Woodward’s first two books in his “Bush at War” series, which depicted the president as decisive, informed and in charge.

However, this book, said Snow — who acknowledged that he had not read it — was inaccurate. “You know, in a lot of ways, the book is sort of like cotton candy — it kind of melts on contact,” he said.

“A couple of weeks ago, the president was being accused of trying to scare people,” Snow said. “Now, all of a sudden, he’s accused of looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Neither one is true.”

But Snow repeatedly refused to address specific incidents recounted in the book, reminding reporters that he had been on the job only a few months and could not speak about matters that took place before he arrived earlier this year.

For example, when pressed about the critical depiction of Rumsfeld, he said that he had been unable to reach the secretary for any reaction, even though Rumsfeld appeared before reporters earlier in the day in Slovenia.

Snow did take issue with two specific incidents reported by Woodward, however.

Snow denied that the administration had ignored the memo calling for more troops in Iraq, which was written three years ago by Robert Blackwill, then the top Iraq adviser on the National Security Council. In fact, it was Rumsfeld himself who personally took an interest in the memo, he said.

According to Snow, Rumsfeld met with Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and said of the memo: “This is a reasonable proposal from a reasonable person. Let’s look at it.”

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