Great post, TX!!!
I saw the post hearing comments of Levin...and I gotta say..that unless Gates DOES sign on to a troop withdrawal in the near future...he isn't going to be much more successful than Rummy at getting any "concensus"...
However, if they confirm him...and they start their same old whining...they have to OWN their own responsibility.
Gates is a consummate Washington insider. He knows how to work with people and work the system.
Doing what Levin says would not be a "consensus", by definition of the word.
I took my cue from Imhofe and Sessions. They are very conservative, and not the cut and run types. Unless I missed it, they seem ok with Gates while most among us FReepers seem worried sick about him. And the way Gates dealt with the ridiculous but in your face ego of Bob Byrd.
Levin is Levin, just like Murtha is Murtha. Following the exact course of either of these two men would not be a consensus. (But I repeat myself...sorry.)
Make no mistake, Gates is very different in his personality and background and way of working than Rumsfeld. My point is, that's why I think he's there. Really. That's IT. It's what the President wants at this point. Don't think he's any more into cutting and running though than Rumsfeld.
Tough nougies, Levin and Murtha et al.