Return fire from the right

LA Times ^ | 8 December 2006 | Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer

[shrinkermd]

Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh called it "The Iraq Surrender Group."

The conservative New York Post tabloid doctored a front-page photo to depict the co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group in primate fur, under the headline "Surrender Monkeys," inspired by a frequently quoted line from "The Simpsons."

And conservative commentator William J. Bennett vented in volcanic fashion. "In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority," Bennett wrote on the National Review website. "Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible."

Howls of protest echoed across the right side of the political spectrum as conservatives voiced dismay with the findings of the bipartisan Iraq panel, released Wednesday.

The commission's report depicts Iraq as a country sliding into chaos, saying conditions are "grave and deteriorating."

Many conservatives agree with that assessment. But the report's other findings and recommendations, which declare the approach they have backed for nearly four years all but bankrupt, clearly struck a nerve with the most ardent supporters of the war.

That diagnosis has compounded the pain for conservatives who saw voters turn control of both chambers of Congress over to Democrats last month, largely because of mounting frustration with the war in Iraq.

Conservatives were particularly incensed at the study group's recommendation that the United States engage Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, as part of a broad new diplomatic push to enlist other countries, even those that see themselves as enemies of the United States, to try to solve the Iraq problem.

[Long Island Pete]

I was trying to be diplomatic, yet you are correct.

[claudiustg]

He's right about this report though. Rush was saying the same thing.