Good Morning, Mr. Bush
10 January 2007 5:00 am by Taylor Marsh
Good Morning, Mr. Bush
MR. SNOW: I think the public ought to just listen to what the President has
to say. You know that the "Mission Accomplished" banner was put
up by members of the USS Abraham Lincoln. And the President, on that very
speech, said just the opposite, didn\’t he? He said it was the end of major
combat operations, but he did not say it was the end of operations. Instead,
he cautioned people at the time that there would be considerable continued
violence in Iraq, and that there would be continued operations for a long
period of time. That single episode has been more widely mischaracterized
than just about any aspect of the war.
It\’s your big day, sir.
But don\’t worry. Democrats won\’t get in the way, not really.
Yes. It\’s the day you turn to the nation and the world, while walking away from the U.S.
military and the best advice the
generals have to offer. Hey, but you\’ve had lots of practice with that, haven\’t you? Besides that\’s what the troops are for, now isn\’t it. I just hope you\’ve got your tap shoes on tonight, because this one is going to be a really tough sell and not just here.
In refusing to do anything to curtail the anti-Sunni pogroms of Moqtada al-Sadr\’s
legions, Maliki, after all, is just dancin\’ with the ones that brung him.
He owes his office to Sadr. More broadly, he is the governmental leader of
the Shiites at the very moment they and the Sunnis have embarked on a ghastly
civil war. He is nominally also Iraq\’s prime minister, but if there was even
a scintilla of doubt about the true object of his loyalties, it was dispelled
by his execution of Saddam Hussein. Maliki is the prime minister of Shiite
rage, a position that offers a good deal more security than that of dispassionate
prime minister of a nation at war with itself.Yet tonight, President Bush will announce that Maliki has changed. …
Hey, but what\’s
the worst that could happen? Never mind, I don\’t want to know. It\’s bad
enough already.
Oh, and by the way, that strike in Somalia the other day, what
exactly is up with that, sir? I guess I shouldn\’t ask. You\’re obviously
not going to tell us the truth. You\’ve learned you don\’t have to.
Anyway, can\’t wait to hear what you have to say tonight. I love a good story,
especially when it\’s got guns, intrigue and heroes. I just wish it weren\’t our heroes taking all the incoming.
Hey, but not to worry. The Democratic leadership in the Senate has decided
to pick symbolism over showing real spine. To hell with putting our majority into action, at least not right now. We\’ll reserve that leverage and use it later… maybe. After all, we can\’t be divisive,
for heaven\’s sake. It\’s only war and death and maiming and carnage and blood
and treasure and American honor and ….
While Mr. Kennedy and a relatively small number of other Democrats
were pushing for immediate, concrete steps to challenge Mr. Bush through legislation,
Democratic leaders said that for now they favored the less-divisive approach
of simply asking senators to cast a vote on a nonbinding resolution for or
against the plan. … …“We believe that there is a number of Republicans who will
join with us to say no to escalation,” said the Senate majority leader,
Harry Reid of Nevada. “I really believe that if we can come up with
a bipartisan approach to this escalation, we will do more to change the direction
of that war in Iraq than any other thing that we can do.” … …The White House press secretary, Tony Snow, criticized the Democrats’ plans. “We understand that the resolution is purely symbolic, but the war — and the necessity of succeeding in Iraq — are very real,” he said Tuesday night. … …
Democrats
Plan Symbolic Votes Against Bush’s Iraq Troop Plan
Ah, yes, a symbolic vote against escalation from Democrats.
Nice way to start your day, isn\’t it Mr. President?
