You all understand why Bush is waiting until January to give his Iraq speech, right?

He doesn't want the new Democratic Congress to completely dominate the news cycle that week. He wants his "plan" to be the lead story.

It's a purely selfish political decision, much like his decision to wait to fire Rumsfeld until after the election. He knows what he's going to do, but the political timing for himself is his top priority.

...would force Bush to think of something other than his own personal interests. He's not known for doing that.

Selfish, narcissistic, inconsiderate, uncaring...the boy king is disrespectful to the soldiers & to their families.

You're absolutely correct, Clarkie.

KKKarl might of F'd up big time with the last election but he's back on his game now.

now and January and he will HAVE to say something.

Because, at this point, it's all Rove knows how to do.

Just watch, it's just going to be Stay The Course again under a new name.

Yeah, he's going to ask the Congress for a pile more money and talk of sending in more troops. And Congress is going to demand a concrete set of 'benchmarks' or whatever in return.

It doesn't matter, the PR or what is agreed or not agreed to and whether Democrats get credit for doing stuff right. By April or May it's still going to be a useless bloody mess in Baghdad, but Bush's last bloc of support will start its bleeding out. (The significance of the ISG report is not its realism, it's that two of the three wings of the GOP have given up on the war- and when the last wing goes, it's all over for Dubya.)

You know that's how it's going down.

and so on and so forth. If he's planning on this to regain support for his policies, whatever they are, he's badly mistaken. Anything short of a timetable for withdrawal isn't going to be received well. "Stay the course", even with a new coat of lipstick. isn't going to cut it with the American people.

THAT is how you defang and declaw the 9/11 screechers trying to smack us back down and intimidate us again.

Throw. It. Back. In. Their. Faces.

Because NOVEMBER SEVENTH changed everything, TOO!

You know the script... And send in 25,000 extra troops to guard against the anticipated upsurge in violence...

After all, we'll have to help train and protect the Iraqi's nascent government from the Iranians for a long time to come, which is why the "coalition" is building luxurious long-term fortified hotel digs. Hell, McCain's RIGHT! Damn! He would make a fine president.

:sarcasm:

}( :nuke: :puke:

BUSH FORCED TO RESIGN ,TO INCOMPETENT TO CONTINUE!
CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND DEMAND HIS RESIGNATION NOW!!!

again and again.

they went over their he puts in troops and takes them out depending on what is being said at the time. He says the Iraqis are being trained and then when some start to complain he says he needs more time. He
blames the bad news on the media and then comes out to do a speech to counteract what they have discovered then, he blames the Dems or the Iraqis and calls us the cut and runners and calls the Iraqis the insurgents or Al Qadea.

He claims he doesn't want to set benchmarks or timetables and then he lies and says he needs a few months to train or its just plain old "we will leave when we get the job done" He,Cheney and all of the neocons think we are stupid and that we are just now catching on...

He is the last to understand this, because he is a delusional moron. But Americans (except the ever-present 30% idiot-contingent) are on to W. His speeches SAY NOTHING. They are nothing but a series of tired platitudes strung together. When you are looking like a winner, folks can stand to listen to them. When you are clearly a loser, they cannot.

The speech will lose the ratings war to just about everything on any major channel at the hour. Nobody gives a fuck what this moron has to say any more. He's not doing a speech for the country, he's doing it for himself.

With his bullying ego, he wants distance from the ISG report in order to be seen as in control of the agenda as the 'leader' rather than bowing to criticism and pressure to change course. He has been given a lifeline by McCain and a few military 'analysts' who are also resisting the ISG report.

We can expect him to come out swinging in January aggressively defending the war and trying to frame Dems and anyone else opposing him as weak on terror and accepting defeat.

that you can take to the bank!

He had the ISG propose 79 suggestions, and now he wants to talk to some hawkish commanders. A shadow group, perhaps? So he can say, 'well I have listened to both groups and have decided ....stay the course (veiled of course, into some crazy euphemism).'

Hate to see him at Baskin-Robbins. 'Duh,...don't you have guava/pineapple /chocolate/pretzel sundae?'

Now I hear that he is not going to announce his "secret plan" until January. Is he going to exhume Nixon to find out what his was?

I think the ISG was a ruse, to buy * more time.

Remember, he's the king, er decider.

Comments?

in this mess and around Xmas to boot. Who cares? Certainly not the decider. He's trash and has blood on his hands.

and pepper the speech with "bi-partisan" so much that we'll be drinking water till his State of the Union dog and pony performance.

Holiday sales have been slow this year - talk of/reminder of the war in Iraq and the confirmation that things are only going to get worse will negatively affect an already slow economy.

As for the Rumsfeld announcement, I don't believe that Rummy would be out had the R's won in November - that plan was in place should they lose, but the final decision, and thus the announcement, was made only once the votes were counted.

It'll take him that long to think of something to say.............. :)