WTF Is It Now?!?

Jackin' it
Is our manly Deciderer deciding to cut an' run?

This week George Bush jacked up his rhetoric on Iraq, charging that "the Democratic party is the party of cut and run." It is a very dumb phrase.

It poisons the dialogue by angering those reasonable Democrats in Congress who are searching for a middle ground and by freezing those Republicans who want to offer constructive criticism but can't for fear they'll be accused of wanting to cut and run. As one Republican congressman put it recently: "Reality has been suspended for a moment. Republicans cannot speak out publicly on this issue right now."

But the most important reason the president shouldn't use any formulation of the "cut and run" language is that withdrawing from Iraq is part of his strategy. Secretary of State Rice just made a surprise visit to Iraq, and her message to Iraqi leaders had a hard truth at its core: If you don't make more progress faster, we're out of here.

- from Slate.

- m