An unhappy anniversary

Rush, Hannity, and Glen Beck can't get enough of the NYT op ed that surge supporters and long time war cheerleaders Ken Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon wrote in last weeks paper. Leaving aside the fact that the authors are already backpedaling from the rosy assessment of what they saw in Iraq, and the fact that they completely ignored the fact that there basically is no legitimate government in Baghdad, the talking heads have anointed these two as exhibit number one of left wing crazies who have seen the error of their ways and come to the conclusion that the surge, the Petreaus magic and the Bush 'strategy' are destined for success. The claim that these two were in any way critics of this administration was eviscerated here.

Even through this year, they have remained loyal Bush supporters. They were not only advocates of the war, but cheerleaders for the Surge. They were, and continue to be, on the fringe of pro-war sentiment in this country. And yet all day yesterday, this country's media loudly hailed them as being exactly the opposite of what they really are. It was 24 hours of unadulterated, amazingly coordinated war propaganda that could not have been any further removed from the truth.

But the echo chamber is powerful, and the right wing talk radio gang knows that. So they repeat the deceit over and over, until it becomes conventional wisdom that these two administration "critics" have seen the light. It would be funny if kids weren't dying due to this deceit. They aren't reporting O'Hanlon's fairly serious caveat here:

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. O’Hanlon said the article was intended to point out that the security situation was currently far better than it was in 2006. What the American military cannot solve, he said, are problems caused by the inability of Iraqis to forge political solutions. “Ultimately, politics trumps all else,” Mr. O’Hanlon said. “If the political stalemate goes on, even if the military progress continued, I don’t see how I could write another Op-Ed saying the same thing.”

And right at the center of it is the President himself, who hosts the echo chamber in an exclusive chat in the oval office. Glen Beck, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt....

Beck took the bait, and swallowed the whole hook:

And Bush wasn't even being subtle:

Beck also added that Bush specifically mentioned the work of Brookings Institution analyst Michael O’Hanlon to support his policies.

This is pathetic in so many ways. Our President, wrapping himself in the cocoon of the blowhards who play to the 28% of our public who still support his foolishness. He refuses to face up to the fiasco he has created and the hypocrisy that he now embodies. For it was seven years ago today that he accepted the Republican nomination and said:

We will give our military the means to keep the peace, and we will give it one thing more: a commander-in-chief who respects our men and women in uniform and a commander-in-chief who earns their respect.

A generation shaped by Vietnam must remember the lessons of Vietnam: When America uses force in the world, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming....

I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect....

And our nation's leaders are responsible to confront problems, not pass them onto others.

And to lead this nation to a responsibility era, that president himself must be responsible.

So when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God.