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Audacity of Truth
Flyswatter in Chief:
"He had this fly that was persistently buzzing around him during the interview...he swatted his hand and he said ‘I got the sucker’...it was a, you know, Dirty Harry ‘make my day’ moment."- The NYT's John Harwood, describing Obama's killing of a fly - 6/16/09
MSM ’stays the course’ on October surprises and phony administration hit pieces
As you’ve probably already read by now, the administration, according to the mediots, is supposedly backing off their Iraq war slogan of “stay the course.” Here’s an example of one such news piece:
President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as “stay the course.” A complete distortion, they say. “That is not a stay-the-course policy,” White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday.
Where would anyone have gotten that idea? Well, maybe from Bush.
“We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed,” he said in Salt Lake City in August.
“We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course,” he said in Milwaukee in July.
“I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed,” he said after returning from Baghdad in June.
But the White House is cutting and running from “stay the course.” A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week, Republican strategists say. Democrats have now turned “stay the course” into an attack line in campaign commercials, and the Bush team is busy explaining that “stay the course” does not actually mean stay the course.
There are two good pieces in the blogosphere that tackle the media’s (and the left’s) dishonest attempt at characterizing “stay the course” as a war strategy. First, James Joyner:
It is fair to fault the administration and the State, DoD and CENTCOM planners over the years for failing to anticipate foreseeable events, for being too slow to adapt to changes, for being overly optimistic, and myriad other failures. It’s ridiculous, however, to pretend that campaign trail rhetoric represents the total depth of their strategic thinking.
“Stay the course” is bumper sticker shorthand for continuing to work toward accomplishing the mission for which we set out three and a half years ago, in contrast with various withdrawal plans floated by opposition leaders. It does not mean, nor has it ever meant, “continue doing exactly what we’re doing right now without any change.”
Rob at Say Anything writes:
The Bush administration responded to the Times report by indicating that they weren’t talking about a timetable for Iraq but rather a list of goals for the mission in Iraq and a change in tactics.
The media/left responded to this new statement from the White House by suggesting that a change in tactics means that the President is reversing on his “stay the course” message.
So the Bush administration responds to that insinuation by pointing out that a change in tactics doesn’t mean that we’re deviating from the overall goal in Iraq, which is to stay there until the mission is complete. Something which, in turn, generates headlines like this:
[Headline reads: Bush Admin. Won't Shift Iraq Strategy]
Frustrating, isn’t it?
Yep. This is what happens when you have a willfully ignorant media who can’t tell the difference between a slogan and a strategy, have no real understanding of the military in and of itself, and don’t really care to because they despise the military and war (see this quote from veteran reporter and Nightline host Terry Moran for more on that), and who are also actively looking for ways to spin statements made by Republicans (no matter the issue) into something they’re not in order to help their power hungry Democratic pals get elected next month.
That’s their strategy, and they are ’staying the course’ with it.
Hat tip: Flopping Aces
Update I: Michelle Malkin points to blatantly biased photo captions from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
PM Update: Read more via the Real Ugly American, Lorie Byrd at Wizbang
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Fortunately, time has a way of forcing truth to the surface and it now appears that the Bush administration has reached its day of reckoning. For the bulk of this year, the GOP has waged a relentless attack on Democrats…all the while convinced that they had the votes they needed to succeed in November…a virtual rerun requiring little more than the roll out of their battle tested rhetoric. Unfortunately for the GOP, during this same time frame voter doubt grew as casualties mounted, sectarian violence became civil war, assurances that the end of conflict was in sight were wrong, and, lastly, the assertions that the opposition was in its last throes proved inaccurate. Additionally, the purple fingers of democracy served little more than symbolism as the Iraqi’s almost immediately reverted to long held tribal alliances, cultural values, and religious beliefs.
With that said, it isn’t difficult to understand why the GOP is now on the precipice of defeat. While the Republican Party focused on savaging Democrats, they failed to pay attention to the all too obvious realities…realities that did not escape the awareness of the voters they took for granted. Voters saw the realities in Iraq and the unwillingness of this President to shift strategies…and that has led to irreconcilable doubts about the President’s judgment and growing skepticism for the sincerity underlying his professed resolve. The bottom line is that voters lost confidence in the attributes they had been willing to assign and attach to this President.
Now that the election is upon us, the Bush administration has apparently decided to alter their intransigent adherence to “staying the course”…because it isn’t resonating with voters…and that is giving skeptical voters the final evidence needed to doubt the President’s sincerity. When this shifting rhetoric on Iraq is coupled with revelations that suggest that the GOP may have manipulated the millions of loyal evangelical voters, I believe these moderate voters are in the process of concluding that this President is more concerned with retaining power than acting with intelligence and integrity to serve the best interests of the nation.
In my opinion, it looks to me that Rove/Bush concluded that 2006 could be won with the same strategy that succeeded in 2002 and 2004. Instead, I believe that it forced voters to view the election as a referendum on the policies and priorities of the Bush administration at a time when it could least withstand the scrutiny. It looks like voters are preparing to call a halt to this charade.
Read more here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
You know what stay the course is? I mean as a strategy, now – as a strategy it is better than cut and run but it is on the same, wrong side of the continuum – it is far from good enough. This war is not being accorded the commitment it needs. Pretty much everyone in politics, is guilty of being distracted from the true situation. This truth, as it is known by the people on the ground, is essentially being suppressed by the administration.
After reading dozens of opinions this week on Iraq, each of which chimed into one of three or four stock takes (none with an actual prescription) on the war, I read this report to WSJ from an Army sergeant in Iraq. It’s a nice, brutal little orientation to the situation.
Here’s the crucial paragraph, which is important enough to reprint IMO:
***
We need to backtrack. We need to publicly admit we’re backtracking. This is the opening battle of the ideological struggle of the 21st century. We cannot afford to lose it because of political inconveniences. Reassert direct administration, put 400,000 to 500,000 American troops on the ground, disband most of the current Iraqi police and retrain and reindoctrinate the Iraqi army until it becomes a military that’s fighting for a nation, not simply some sect or faction. Reassure the Iraqi people that we’re going to provide them security and then follow through. Disarm the nation: Sunnis, Shias, militia groups, everyone. Issue national ID cards to everyone and control the movement of the population.