[Fighting Irish]

If only all of this introspection would have been considered years ago .....

[LS]

Mulhern is great---he really stood out in the Clinton impeachment.

Don't agree with all this analysis---I think our PERFECT handling of the Filipino Insurrection/Moro Wars shows that this approach to Iraq was feasible. But some of his points are correct. The main issue was that we never once, ever, should have conceded on the WMDs and switched gears. If there was no evidence, irrelevant. The line should always have been, we aren't going to war over WMDs, we're going to war over the POTENTIAL and THREAT of WMDs. If we find 'em, great, if we don't, even better. Next rat's nest.

I do think pitting one group against another only would have set up a British/India style Hindu/Muslim seething rage that would result in a mass resistance by all at an inopportune moment. But I agree that democracy might, or might not work. It's irrelevant, as long as they are on our side---or out of our way.

[tobyhill]

It's not time to learn, it's time to apply the knowledge they already have. They have been successful for the past 12 years but it seems for about the last 4 years they have allowed the MSM and Rats to frame the issues by inserting lies within the issues. I could care less if the Republicans even won the '08 elections with these wimps they turned into and if they want people to start caring again they better start fighting back.

[FlipWilson]

Quote: "Voters didn’t like events in Iraq two years ago and they put President Bush on probation. They gave him a dangerously narrow reelection victory against an inept candidate with a long history of anti-American activism, a figure who should have been buried under a landslide that would make 1972 look like a squeaker. Two years later nothing had changed except that the voters were out of patience."

I agree with this assessment and with the particular assessment that going through the UN was a disaster. But, Bush's real failing was that after the 2004 election he took his eye off of the ball and focused on reforming Social Security. The democrats never lost focus on Iraq. Their attacks went unanswered for almost a year. By the time they were answered, it was too late.

[El Sordo]

Hmmm...

[Suzy Quzy]

Sadly, I agree with everything Peter has written.....sadly, very sadly. Bush is a good Christian man, who has a lovely, VERY SQUISHY wife who doesn't like him being too much of a warrior. Dick Cheney has a warrior wife....we would have been better off with the Cheneys as President.

[RightWhale]

We're learning already. Don Young has promised to continue sending pork to Alaska as best he can although he will have to ask for the committee floor now, a re-learning experience. We have learned to spell acetaminophen for the recall (Pelosi's fault.) No doubt we will learn more, and rapidly.

[4Freedom]

"The problem in Iraq is much larger than mere short-staffing and it isn’t a question of tactics. The problem in Iraq goes back to 1999 when Republicans, desperate for a presidential win, overlooked the intellectual incoherence of “compassionate conservatism” and embraced Governor Bush of Texas as their nominee."

This is the problem with Bush's approach to illegal immigration, education, prescription drugs for the elderly, foreign policy, international trade relations as well as the war in Iraq.

Bush is trying to be Mother Teresa in a Republican suit!

Gridlock is the best thing that could have happened to us these last 2 'lame duck' years of this bleeding heart's administration as he's hell-bent on driving us more than $10 TRILLION DOLLARS into debt!

[upcountryhorseman]

If Republican Politicians had stayed with their base on immigration and reducing the Debt, along with promises
regarding tax reform, we wouldn't be in this situation.
Even so, these races were very close.

[RichInOC]

Finding Wisdom in the Wreckage

"With all this horses**t, there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

[George W. Bush]

Democrats didn’t deserve to win, but Republicans deserved to lose. The voters plainly got that right. ... Voters didn’t like events in Iraq two years ago and they put President Bush on probation. They gave him a dangerously narrow reelection victory against an inept candidate with a long history of anti-American activism, a figure who should have been buried under a landslide that would make 1972 look like a squeaker. Two years later nothing had changed except that the voters were out of patience.

Truth.

[Blind Eye Jones]

I disagree with the assessment in great parts. The real war was fought where it should have been: on the home-front. The Dems were obstructionists who used the wars for political purposes. With their enablers, the MSM, they convinced the American public that the US was incompetent, losing and suffering terrible casualties -- which is ridiculous compared to other wars. The MSM framed the public perspective and the Republicans never went on the attack, partially due to confidence in their numbers, their sense of magnanimity toward the Dems, and G W Bush for his compassion and attempts to heal the partisan divides that went back to Clinton. The Dems never respected his gestures and made matter worse through lying, leaking, scandals and court room antics. Politics is a bloody sport and Bush refuses to see that aspect -- it may be his great conceit that they are so desperate to be rid of him but he can still win them over -- and it has cost him his base. His refusal to fight back -- for example, to clean house with the CIA, prosecute the NYTs, show evidence of WMD, etc. -- and concessions to the Dems (immigration) were meaningless. The few times he did fight back were too late, and the MSM just kept pounding away as he kept joking with them in the press room. I think he overestimated the power that he had at home with Congress and felt that such great power toward the Dems should not be abused in petty squabbling. That, and the effectiveness of MSM in framing the anti Iraq, anti Bush debate, led to the current situation. If Bush learns one thing, it is that he has to fight at home, deal with the MSM as allies to the Dems who will have no more moral compunction than they.

[Sam Cree]

food for thought

[oldtimer2]

Read this article and Hugh Hewitt's article in Townhall today and you will have all the information you need to know what happened on Tuesday.
Now we need to work to correct these flaws.

[Kenny Bunk]

... a dangerously narrow reelection victory against an inept candidate... who should have been buried under a landslide that would have mmade 1972 look like a squeaker.

A sterling example of vintage Rove handiwork ... turning a humdrum landslide into an exciting nail-biter, which we almost lost, at phenomenal expense.

[BLS]

"Voters didn’t like events in Iraq two years ago and they put President Bush on probation."


True. To those who disagree, can you name me one MOH winner from this war? One Silver Star winner? Too many in this country believed we would wade through Iraq within a year or two. For whatever reason, they believed that. I personally have seen no forward movement since the elections of the current Iraqi government. Not saying there isn't any, just saying that in America 2006, perception IS reality.

[FFIGHTER]

The current Republican leadership (use the term very loosely) are not capable of learning. Their arrogance prevents them. They thought they were ordained to rule, so they did not have to have leadership, an agenda, goals, direction, or respond to the Democrats attacks. They let the Democrats, set the tone, agenda and the debate.

[kalee]

"Most Americans intuitively understand that our survival depends on maintaining our dominant position in the world and that to do so we have to answer all challengers and leave no serious enemy standing."

I don't really think they do.