He Needed Prime Time for This?

I didn't watch the Prez on TV tonight, but I did hear parts of his speech on the radio in the car. I was very tempted to skip this post all together and go to bed early. If Bush wasn't saying anything new, why should I bother to? But then I decided that I'd keep thinking about the whole situation, so I might as well put down some stray thoughts. The Washington Post has some coverage, and in a nice break from the media's recent tendency to take the administration at its word, they actually check his facts, as well (and believe it or not, Bush does fudge the details from time to time). But to hear the Prez tell it, things are just getting better and better in Iraq. So good, in fact, that the soldiers who were sent temporarily in the surge might actually get to leave when the surge is over! Their temporary tours are probably not going to become permanent. That is good news. In fact, it's starting to look like the situation nine months from now might make enough progress that it matches the situation of January of this year (nine months ago). Some might suggest that an eighteen-month surge that left things pretty much the same as they were when the surge started is the very definition of failure (or at least irrelevance). But they're the half-empty contingent. Glass half-fullers, on the other hand, will--well, they'll just lie to you, and we saw plenty of that tonight.

Bush had no new ideas in his speech tonight, and my big fear is that the Democratic Congress won't have any new ideas, either. They'll talk a big game about forcing the administration to change its direction, and then they'll cave and give Bush most, if not all, of what he wants. If we're lucky, they'll send a strong bill to the White House that will, in all likelihood, get a veto. But when they're unable to override, well, you know what they'll do next. Of course, I'd love to be proven wrong. Come on, Democrats, bring something original to the table!