The "surge" hasn't worked in Iraq. It has, however, worked on our Democratic lawmakers.

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:


Easy marks
Submitted by Rick Perlstein on September 4, 2007 - 2:06pm.


In the world of the Big Con, often the easiest marks are Democratic elected officials.

Supposed liberals, like my own senator, Illinois's Dick Durbin, pronounce themselves inclined to support the President's $197 billion supplemental request for Iraq funding—the one in which he tacked on an extra $50 billion at the last minute, perhaps just to prove that he could. Durbin said he would be for it in the same breath as he noted, as the Chicago Tribune paraphrased him, that the request "seems likely to prolong troop levels at their current elevated number into the spring of 2008."

In other words, he's objectively pro-surge, and this even before the made-up report that's supposed to prove "progress."

I can't believe what suckers these senators be. How hard was it to spot that the "surge" was a put-up job from the start? How hard was it to imagine the White House marketing meetings in which it was concocted? It's not even sophisticated hustling. "Hey, we'll just apply concentrated efforts to a tiny, tiny part of the country. Then, anything bad that happens anywhere in that whole big country outside Baghdad will be ignored as irrelevant to judging the surge. At the same time, we can pump up any good news from outsize the surge-zone as surge-a-riffic nonetheless! Anyone complains? We'll say: 'Support the troops!'"

Did bad stuff happen in the whole big country outside Baghdad? Sure enough. A stunning bombing with a death toll of over 500, but that happened up in Kurdistan, so it wasn't counted on the "surge" ledger. Check.

Did good stuff happen in the whole big country outside Baghdad? Sure enough. In the province of Anbar, tribal leaders declared war on al Qeada. How un-surge-o-riffic was that? Entirely un-surge-o-riffic, in actual fact (it happened before the surge began); but the President and Defense Secretary Gates managed to call it surge-o-riffic nonetheless, and get their claim reported straight—check!

Come on, Durbin! Come on, Democratic lawmakers! You think this heads-we-win-tails-you-lose scheme wasn't all gameplanned in advance? ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/easy_marks?tx=3

[EndElectoral]

1. WTF? Do these guys do their homework? Violence is up and soldiers' deaths are up over last year

[groovedaddy]

2. "Truth is the first casualty of war"

As true now as it ever was!

[leftchick]

3. Levin as well

it appears the US is never leaving Iraq. :(

[rodeodance]

4. send him KO's commentary from last evening=====send to ALL your critters.