But there was yet another page to the presidential script that wasn't presented, and should have been. On that one, the president would have seized the opportunity to announce key changes in his leadership team. He would have praised Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to the skies and then announced Rumsfeld's resignation, to allow new thinking and new energy to address America's troubled involvement in post-war Iraq.
He would have conceded that, in contrast to the things that have gone well in America's post-9/11 response, American military strategy in Iraq has been a muddled mess.
Editorial in Rochester, NY Democrat & ChronicleWhat do you call it when the state Republican Party conducts a study on how to win the upcoming elections, and the report's publication widens the rift in the party? You call it Virginia.
It isn't easy being Red (Republican red) in today's political atmosphere. Just ask the Republican party in my own state, Vermont.
On today's Face the Nation, Condoleezza Rice said:
The idea that somehow this was a peaceful relationship with Saddam Hussein, and if we had just let him be, the world would have been fine, I find is not a very sustainable argument.
On today's Meet the Press, Dick Cheney said:
But the fact is, the world is better off today with Saddam Hussein out of power. Think where we'd be if he was still there.
I'm sure you recognize the name Jim Corsi from his slimy association with the Swift Boat Vets' smear of John Kerry, and maybe from WTW pieces examining his character. (See here for example)
You probably didn't realize that Jim Corsi was a Renaissance Man, but wow!
With emphasis added:
"I think that the record will show that the last five years have been years of reorganizing our international alliances for this long war and reorienting our strategic policy toward one that simply will not accept the conditions in the Middle East and in other places that have allowed extremism to flourish at the expense of moderation.
Condoleeza Rice on today's Fox News Sunday.
[Hmmmm. If you have the right to "refuse to accept" conditions over there, does that mean that people "over there" have the right to refuse to accept conditions over here?]
If this turns out to be true, or even credible, there is no justification in the known universe for Rumsfeld's continued role as Secretary of Defense or even toilet bowl licker.
I certainly don't look to Fox news, or its on-air "personalities," for truth or objectivity. But incoherence shouldn't be the norm even for Fox. Should it?
Come on, take a guess. A hint, it's really, really, really, really BIG. It's about money...