Courageous, Cynical or Just Childish?

The president has drawn a line in the sand. He's staked out his future -- and that of his political allies -- on the outcome of war in Iraq.

The Iraq war and the buildup to it helped fuel Republican victories in 2002 and 2004, but polls now show that a majority of Americans have doubts about progress in Iraq.

The White House and Republican Party officials have argued that the Iraq war remains potent politically for Republicans when they cast it as part of the broader war on terror, though they have sometimes found it difficult to make that case.

When Mr. Bush referred to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Monday in reference to a question about Iraq, a reporter pressed him, “What did Iraq have to do with that?”

“Nothing,” Mr. Bush responded somewhat testily, adding, “Nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack.”

Well, we know that's bullshit; Dick Cheney has been saying that all along, so it sounds like the president and Mr. Cheney need to have a little chat so that the vice president can straighten out Mr. Bush.

It's one thing to take a position and stick with it in the face of powerful opposition and getting all Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But it sounds like the only reason the president is sticking to his guns in Iraq has nothing whatsoever to do with the situation on the ground there or what the generals are telling him and everything to do with the midterm elections in November. So the soldiers and civilians in Iraq are fighting and dying just so the Republicans can keep a majority in the House and Senate? How sick is that?

Speaking of politics, President Bush, right-wing pundits, and cranky old wingnut gaffers on C-SPAN's call-in shows insist on referring to the opposition party as the "Democrat Party." They know that's not the name of the party, but like a six-year-old on a sugar jag, they keep doing it because they know it pisses some people off. It also pretty much sums up the level of Neener-Neener political discourse coming out of the GOP. I suppose we could counter by referring to the "Republic Party," which has a slightly fascist tone to it, but it would only be playing their game. Besides, the only name that I want to attach to them in November is "Loser."