Bush adviser: Dem reactions 'unjustified'
Posted: Friday, May 16, 2008 10:33 AM by Domenico Montanaro
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White House
From NBC's John Yang
On Air Force One, not on camera, Bush counselor Ed Gillespie said the White House "did not anticipate" the reaction of congressional leaders to the Knesset speech, which he called "unjustified and unwarranted."
He said he was "surprised and curious" by the reaction. He noted that the president was restating long-standing policy. He challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden to "point to" a sentence "that they would say is reckless or outrageous."
He did not address Sen. Barack Obama's comments, saying, "We are happy to allow for Sen. Obama and others to express their own points of view" on dealing with Syria and Iran.
He acknowledged that the reference to Sen. Borah's comments about Hitler were included in the remarks because of the setting. He said the Knesset was an "audience where an understanding of taking the words of someone like Hitler seriously the distinction between good and evil is an important one."
*** MORE *** Gillespie went out of his way to say that he was speaking of the reaction from congressional leaders, specifically Pelosi and Biden.
Administration officials never dissuaded me from the idea that they believe Obama is included in the category of people the president described. They also stressed he was not the only one in that category and that they were not specifically targeting Obama.
While officials may have been "surprised" by the specific reaction, they had been touting the speech for days and even took the unusual step for this administration of releasing an advance text.
