Since dubya wasn't having anything to do with the press after his speech today, CNN was kind enough to bring on that lying, fat-fuck, asshole hypocritical morals czar Bill Bennett to further massage the preznit's message. I listened long enough to hear him tout the latest right-wing meme before I turned it off. These people are the absolute kings of the soundbite. They can't govern for shit, but they can sure come up with a snappy comeback. The latest rhetorical turd, in response to Democratic calls for a timetable for withdrawal and questions about a contingency plan if The Surge doesn't produce as advertised, goes something like this: The left keeps asking the preznit what he's going to do if The Surge fails, but what are the liberals going to do if it succeeds?

There are so many things wrong with this bullshit talking point that I scarcely know where to begin. How about we start with the fact that this is an evasion of the fucking question?! Congress wants to know if the administration has a backup plan. Considering their performance thus far in this Iraq fiasco, I think it's a good question, logical and timely. And I think their failure to answer it exposes once again the key weakness of this administration. They are only capable of pursuing one idea at a time, and whatever that idea happens to be, they believe in it with the blind fervor of an ideologue, disregarding any and all remotely contradictory evidence. It's exactly the same thinking that got us into Iraq in the first place. They never learn a damn thing from their past mistakes. They consider planning for possible failure as weakness, so when their plans do fail, they find themselves literally denying reality while they flounder around for the next big idea to sell the public. It's pathetic.

As for what the liberals will do if The Surge succeeds, if the exceedingly unlikely happens and The Surge brings our troops home, this particular liberal will dance a little white-boy jig and pound a few beers. But first I need to know the definition of success. How many killings/bombings per day is considered acceptable? And when we reach that number and begin troop withdrawals, what happens when those numbers start to rise again? Do we re-Surge? I've not heard any administration official describe what success looks like. Is it like the timetable excuse? Dubya says we can't set a firm date for withdrawal because it invites our enemies to wait us out. By extension, does that mean we can't tell the enemy what we consider victory to be because they might give it to us? Wuh?