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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Bush's 'stay the course' in Iraq falling flat (Mississippi!) Bush's 'stay the course' in Iraq falling flat By Mitch Cohen Special to The Clarion-Ledger "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." — President Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24 This week, President Bush set out yet again to make the case for his failing war. In fact, in a remarkable sign of political weakness, he's been forced to do so in two of the reddest states: Utah and Idaho. Having lost the nation at large, Bush is struggling to hold even his base. Salt Lake City — site of an overwhelming Bush reelection victory —saw 2,000 citizens take to the streets in protest against the president and his war, led by the city's mayor himself. Polls lower than Nixon's Undaunted, Bush once again vowed he will adamantly "stay the course," and demanded the country do the same. He tried again to connect his war of choice with the horrific attack on our country by perpetrators still very much at large. Five times in a 30 minute speech meant to shore up resolve for the war in Iraq did the president invoke September 11th. Unfortunately for Mr. Bush, fear just doesn't sell like it used to. Bush's favorability rating is now lower than even Nixon's during Watergate. You'd think perhaps a change of strategy might be in order. You'd think maybe time had come for Team Bush to reassess the game plan and see where they had so drastically parted ways with the rest of us. Not these folks. Two things become painfully clear. First, this administration is wholly unwilling to change course—even when they're obviously driving off a cliff. Second, and much more threatening to the outcome in Iraq, the president seems incapable of realizing mistakes. He's entirely blind to error. His is the ultimate "faith-based" government. All decisions made by the president must be prima facie correct because he's made them. Any seeming trouble in the world is merely a matter of faulty PR, easily fixed by some better way of making the case. Surely this explains Karen Hughes' appointment to the State Department, tasked with creating "rapid response" teams to counter bad news and defend Bush's policies to the world. Cowards change policies. Real leaders change minds. To Bush, all is right 'spin' This administration places all power and faith in spin and communications. No matter the crisis, the solution is simply to find some more persuasive way to say the same things. Nothing is ever wrong with facts on the ground. Nothing ever needs adjustment. The American people must simply be better sold. Well, the case has been made, and made yet again. Turns out America isn't buying. Americans see the Iraq mess as just that; a gargantuan mess of George Bush's making. As we've learned from the draft Iraqi constitution, Americans are dying to establish not "freedom," but an Islamic republic severely curtailing the rights of women, a la Iran. That is, assuming Iraq doesn't explode into all out civil war, an increasing likelihood. Is this what the American people signed on for when we were warned of mushroom clouds and WMDs wreaking carnage on American soil? Something must change, but the president refuses to see this fact. He stood in front of the VFW in Utah and gave the same speech he's given for two years. In the words of Republican Chuck Hagel, "'stay the course' is not a policy." Far from it. In fact, in the popular parlance of addiction, "doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results" is far from policy. It is, rather, the definition of insanity.
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#5. To: Mekons4 (#0)
— President Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24 It still makes me laugh....
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