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I am not upset about the report, per se. I am upset at HOW the report was presented, and how it will be portrayed in the media.

If this is such a serious situation (as the study group said) then why were they all up there joking and laughing (which they were). It was totally inappropriate.

And to find out that Baker and Hamilton did a Libowitz photo spread for Vogue is just absolutely appalling.

CH, you and I usually agree on stuff, and as far as your assessment of most of the report, I will probably agree once I read it.

But the damage this commission did by the way they presented the report, and themselves, was just simply inexcusable.

For us, it was presented in a way that was not very appealing, and seemed partisan and disrespectful to the office of president in a way.

But that is not who is the target of the report.

We know what the stakes are. We know who the players are.

The problem is that Joe Blow citizen has had their skull filled with media lies to win the last election and Iraq was a part of the list of lies. The report was designed to be hated by both the left and the right, it was aimed at the center and will perform a informational job to bring them into the decision process.

Bush has tried his best to do this, but his words, and now his reputation have been sullied. The masses of faceless people have been told we are losing Iraq and that the soldiers are dying for nothing. They believe it.

This report is a attempt to bring them back into the process, and should not be viewed by us as some sort of new attempt to undermine the president. He can use this to renew support, or at least buy some public patience as the situation in Iraq works it's self out in the fullness of time..

Time is what we need, and bush is being threatened by Congress who have control of the purse. We need a couple more years to show results.

If we don't get those years and that support, the damage done will be incalculable.

Bush knows that historians will be the ones to correct his record, so right now, his present reputation is not the issue. Success in Iraq is. he will do the things necessary to be successful and he needs time and congressional support of the troops to do it. Nothing else matters.

This report is a attempt to smooth feathers and get that support for a couple of years.