60 Minutes released some stuff from Bob Woodward's new book about Bush that seems intended to make Bush look bad. At least in the eyes of liberals. Again, the view of people like Woodward is that everyone in America thinks like the people who share nine-dollar drinks with him at the cocktail parties. This could backfire.

Woodward interviewed Mr. Bush in August at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.



"He said, 'One of the things I learned is, the vision thing matters,'" Woodward tells 60 Minutes about what Mr. Bush told him.

And his vision includes getting rid of the evil from what he calls the axis of evil: Iraq, Iran, North Korea. Talking with Woodward, Mr. Bush dropped all pretense of diplomatic language as he tore into North Korea's leader Kim Jong II. And the President permitted Woodward to tape record his interview.

President Bush: "I loathe Kim Jong II. — I've got a visceral reaction to this guy because he is starving his people. It appalls me. — I feel passionate about this. — They tell me, well we may not need to move too fast, because the financial burdens on people will be so immense if this guy were to topple. — I just don't buy that."



Liberals gasp in horror. To admit a hatred of a totalitarian monster is just so...so...not PC! Most of America knows better, and would firmly agree.

Clearly transformed by Sept. 11, the President makes a point of projecting strength, confidence, and determination.



President Bush: "A president has got to be the calcium in the backbone. — If I weaken, the whole team weakens. — If I'm doubtful, I can assure you there will be a lot of doubt."

And Mr. Bush wants strength, not doubt, in his cabinet.

"In the midst of tough times I don't need people around me who are not steady," Bush tells Woodward. "And if there's a kind of a hand-wringing attitude going on when times are tough, I don't like it."

Woodward managed to get the notes from more than 50 National Security Council and War Cabinet meetings, in which, he says, Mr. Bush dominates his more experienced cabinet members Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld - and even Vice President Dick Cheney.

Woodward says the president told him that when he chairs a meeting he often tries to be provocative. When Woodward asked him if he tells his staff that he is purposely being provocative, Mr. Bush answered: "Of course not. I am the commander, see?"

President Bush: "I do not need to explain why I say things. — That's the interesting thing about being the President. — Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

Woodward reports that Powell believes Cheney and Rumsfeld are too quick to go for the guns - too macho; while Powell remains the reluctant warrior.

"When Powell would be asked to go on television talk shows, the White House would tell him no," Woodward tells Wallace "And Powell would say, privately to his deputy Richard Armitage, 'I'm in the refrigerator. — I'm in the ice box. — They've got me put away and they'll pull me out like a carton of milk when they
need me, and then put me back.'"



This is my favorite part:

But while Mr. Bush was waiting for the military, at his direction, the CIA led by George Tenet, was already on the ground buying Afghan warlords.



Woodward: Tenet sent his secret paramilitary team in, and the team leader, who's named Gary, is riding in his helicopter and he has a big suitcase between his legs. — Giant. — What's in it is three million dollars in cash.

Gary, who reportedly met with the intelligence chief for the Northern Alliance put a half a million dollars in cash on the table.

"And the intelligence chief for the Northern Alliance said, essentially, 'What do you want us to do?'" Woodward says.

And at one time, the CIA offered a Taliban commander $50,000 to defect and he asked for time to think it over.

And then they dropped a bomb on him in his area. — And then they went back and said, the offer now which used to be $50,000 is now $40,000. — And he said "I accept."



From your average American, these Bush quotes usually get some response ranging from, "so, what's your point?" to "All right!" I don't think this story is going to affect people the way Woodward and Mike Wallace think it's going to.

What this does show is that Bush is most definitely not as the Left has tried to paint him: some dimbulb who is hauled around by his nose by smarter advisors.