Even for Bush, this latest statement shows an astonishing level of incoherence.
An excerpt from last night's interview on PBS, courtesy of ThinkProgress:
BUSH: Even though all violence needs to be abhorred — nevertheless, there is, you know, there’s certain violence, levels of violence that people say, well, gosh, I can go about my life, I’ve got…ROSE: We can’t create zero violence is what you’re saying.
BUSH: Well — and by the way, if the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory. In other words, if you say, you know, I’m going to judge the administration’s plan based upon whether they’re able to have no car bombings in Baghdad. We will have just given — because car bombings are hard to stop, or suicide bombings, very hard to stop.
We have just given Al Qaida or any other extremist a significant victories. And that’s one of the problems I face in trying to convince the American people, one, this is doable. In other words, I wouldn’t have our troops there if I didn’t think this is, one, important; and secondly, achievable
Remember that for Bush Iraq is the "central front in the war on terror." His words, his strategy. And yet,if we judge success or failure in this central front by the number of terrorist attacks taking place, the terrorists have won.
If we can't measure success in the war on terror by the number of terrorist incidents taking place, what can we measure it by?
And while I'm asking Bush questions, I'd also like to know how his statement here is different from this statement made by John Kerry during the 2004 election: ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance." Bush, you might recall, used Kerry's statement to great political effect during the final month of the campaign, claiming it as proof of Kerry's pre-9/11 mindset. I'd love to know what has changed that Bush now agrees with Kerry.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Laura Bush went on TV to suggest that when it comes to the war in Iraq, "no one is suffering more than the president." While Bush is suggesting that Iraqis can and should be willing to live with some violence, his wife thinks he can't even bear to watch the violence on TV.
As I've studied history, I've often wondered what it must have felt like to live in a society ruled by an out of touch aristocracy. Now I know.
UPDATE II: Atrios makes a great point. Imagine if First Lady Hillary Clinton had said something like this. Even in the absence of an unpopular war, she would have been crucified. But Laura? I doubt if anyone on TV will even mention it today.
Watch that liberal media work!
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