The wordsmithing on this NewWayForward must be hell! Is it a surge, a bump, an escalation, a slow buildup or a logical assertion of strength? Pray tell, does this NewWayForward have a purpose? And will these words inject new, powerful meaning into the day to day activities of our troops in Iraq? Pathetically, dear reader, you already know the answers to these questions -- no, no, and no.
It's a damn shame. The Daily Show features guys like Rajiv Chandrasekaran and his new book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" while C-Span consults with former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson who explains why it was he who wanted the word "evil" in that long forgotten "axis of evil" speech. And all this time I was so sure it was David Frum.
Which channel is comedy and which is real life? Perhaps we ought to get our groundings before launching into any NewWayForward. The Democrats in Congress seem as worried now as they were before they gained power. Why in the world should that be so? The country is completely financially despoiled, whored out, and in a quagmire that even the British Labour Party won't support much longer. And while this description surely fits Iraq, the country of which I speak is a bit closer to my heart.
The Next NewWayForward devised by the Boy King, and the one after that, will be more tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. To borrow a more current quip, this country needs Bush's next speech like a fish needs a bicycle. What we do need is some of that democracy we thought we put forward last November, when we voted overwhelmingly for antiwar candidates in what seems to be the vain hope they'd do something good for our country and by extension, the rest of the world.
The way ahead is simple -- if anyone in the military or in Congress can find his or her posterior (the use of two hands optional), they need to grab hold tight and get it out of Iraq immediately. Defund, stop the orders, pull back, cancel the checks, all of the above and more. If anyone in Washington still feels the need to occupy something, may I suggest the US Treasury printing press room, or perhaps the nearly dysfunctional but certainly gold-plated Department of Homeland Security? So much to do, so little time, as the baby boomers inexorably creep towards entitlement heaven while the rest of us figure out how to earn less taxable income today and relocate to a more friendly and free country tomorrow.
Instead, Congress timidly holds its breath for the next incoherent uttering of the discredited fool in the Oval Office. Is it time yet for a healthy tax revolt, or perhaps a Molotav cocktail march down Constitution Avenue? Or should we wait 'til Wednesday and give the President one more chance?
