The man who's ALWAYS wrong (Kristol) advises *: "Hold firm..." on Iraq [View All]

[npincus]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/859tvyhw.asp

Can you believe the nerve of this armchair warrior, chickenhawk f*cker: advising Chimp in BATTLE metaphors to continue spilling our kids' blood, appealing to Chimpy's vanity that he really is some kind of visionary the unwashed masses don't understand? What the hell does he have on the line? Where are his children? Are they riding around Iraq in Humvees waiting to get blown up? The NERVE of the bastard.



The best strategy for the president is to hold firm. There is every reason to believe that he can survive the current calamity-Janes of the Republican party (does anyone really imagine that a veto-proof majority will form in the Senate this week or next?). This nonsense will pass, Congress will go on recess, and Petraeus will have a chance to continue to produce results--and the president and his allies will have a chance to gain political ground here at home. Why on earth pull the plug now? Why give in to an insane, irrational panic that will destroy the Bush administration and most likely sweep the Republican party to ruin? The president still has a chance to emerge from this as a visionary who could see what the left could not--but not if he gives in to them. There is no safety in the position some in the Bush administration are running towards.

Here's what I gather is a basic lesson of tactics: When you find yourself in an ambush, attack into the ambush. Don't twist and turn in the kill zone, looking for a way to retreat. Especially when the ambush is not a powerful one, and the Democrats' position (to mix military metaphors) is way overextended. The Democrats are hoping the president will break and run. They will not allow him a dignified retreat or welcome him with compromise. They will spring to finish him off completely. It doesn't matter what the president's motives are. Some of his advisers are trying to persuade him that he needs to go for a grand bargain now so as to build bipartisan support for his policies when he's gone. But the only way to do that is to hold firm now--and to counterattack. Those who try to convince him otherwise offer nothing but defeat, for the troops, for the mission, and for the president.