Craig Crawford says Bush has Won like Ali by "Rope a Dope"

[KoKo]

Moving the Goalpost
By Craig Crawford, CQ Columnist

Watching Congress try to nudge George W. Bush toward ending the war in Iraq is much like watching a frustrated landlord deal with a freeloading tenant who keeps promising to pay the rent but never does.

For the umpteenth time, the White House last week at least acted like it was listening to criticism when it allowed 11 moderate House Republicans to visit the president — and bluntly tell him time is running out before the war’s unpopularity exacts an even worse toll on their party than it did in the midterm election.

Despite the political shocker of members from the president’s own party describing for reporters the tough messages they had delivered, the White House downplayed the session as little more than another in a series of routine meetings Bush holds with lawmakers. And on the same day, Vice President Dick Cheney was in Baghdad insisting that “we are making progress” — even though he had to wear a bulletproof vest on his ride to the U.S. Embassy, where insurgents set off a nearby explosion that rattled the windows during his visit.

Even the tough talk from GOP leaders earlier in the week seemed not to faze the Bush camp. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi, among others in their party, got behind the idea of a September deadline for determining whether the president’s latest “surge” policy is working. Still, both lawmakers kept their options open by taking care not to describe overly specific accomplishments they would want to see before they would abandon the president.

The White House managed to all but ignore the senior Republicans’ pronouncements, instead signaling that a renewal of the surge could be in the works for the period following the supposed September deadline. The Pentagon announced that it had notified another 35,000 troops to be ready to go to Iraq by December.

Given the administration’s history of marketing the war as a series of short-term bursts — which have made it more palatable to the public — it’s easy to imagine the president coming forward this fall to say his war strategy should not be judged until the end of the year. If the pattern continues, he will make a few personnel changes, approve some new tactics that sound promising and renew the “give it a chance” argument that sustained the current surge in troops to Iraq.

No matter how often Bush seems to make changes or appear to be listening to others, the administration always comes back to a “my way or the highway” approach to Iraq. Also last week, Bush threatened another veto, this time for the next congressional effort to draw down troop levels with a war funding bill that potentially expires in July and would set benchmarks for the Iraqi government to get results or lose some of its U.S. aid.

The White House keeps this war going with a combination of ever-changing goals, short-term fixes, rosy assessments and vague promises that the end is near. The emerging result is a bottom-line administration policy that an increasing number of Republicans desperately fear taking to the voters next year: unlimited resources for a war that has no foreseeable end.

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqw/weeklyreport110-000002510462.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. I don't understand why people don't get it: we are not leaving Iraq.

Bush made it perfectly clear: he will never authorize the removal of combat forces from Iraq. Not ever. It will be up to the next president to do that.

No matter how often Bush seems to make changes or appear to be listening to others, the administration always comes back to a “my way or the highway” approach to Iraq.

Molly Ivins said it best about Bush: ignore what he says. Watch what he does.

We're staying.

[chieftain]

2. The only way to get out of Iraq before 1/09 is to impeach

the fool. In the meantime W will continue to lie about the war. His henchman will tell you it is raining while peeing on the collective leg of the world . Alberto will subvert the justice system of the US. The media will report certain aspects of the destructive behavior of this wrecking crew , only to lose interest when a hot story like Paris Hilton going to jail appears.
Our Party is confronted with the unappetizing choice of trying to remove this gang from office or concentrating on winning the WH in "08 with large majorities in Congress. The former path is politically riskier: the latter significantly less moral.
I have been content with focusing on the '08 Elections but the level of death in Iraq along with the bald face lies offered up by Gonzalez may compel us to impeach the whole craven lot.

[madrchsod]

3. we are not leaving iraq for a long time

we will move to three bases in iraq with an unknown amount of troops and mercenaries. nobody in the region wants the us to withdraw, all they want a balanced us policy.