2.02.2008

Snow Job

On the Real Time with Bill Maher broadcast January 11, 2008, former White House spokesperson Tony Snow had this to say:
When it comes to the war, everybody….It’s great to be a back seat General. Everybody gets it wrong at the beginning of a war…

[Bush] ended up trusting the people in charge. If they made wrong decisions, that’s something you learn from. Yes, I know people died. On the other hand, you can sit around and be snarky. You can sit around and second-guess. If you’ve got the way to win on the ground right now, please dispatch it. Love to hear it.
This recurring challenge ran like a leitmotif through the 2004 and 2006 elections – Well, what’s your plan? Do you have a strategy for success?

I’ll take that. Let me explain what happened, as I see it:

American was walking down the street one day when some evil people smacked us in the head with an ice ball. A nasty one, packed tight with a rock in the middle. It hurt a lot and drew blood. America was angry.

George Bush went tearing off down the sidewalk, huffing and puffing that he’d get the person responsible for this, dead or alive. On the sidewalk was a pile of dog shit. George ran directly towards it. Some of us said, “George, that looks like a pile of shit. Stepping in that isn’t a good idea.”

But no, he ignored everybody who voiced contrary advice, called them traitors and haters, and did it anyway. He didn’t just step in shit, he stomped on it with both feet. Wiggled it between his toes. Smeared it all over.

He made a big mess. In other words, he’s a big mess-maker.

And then George stands there, splattered with shit from head to toe, and has the unmitigated gall to say, “Well, how would you clean up this mess?”

Facepalm. Those who opposed this war are accused of second-guessing by people who never did any first-guessing from the outset. There never was a Plan B for Iraq because they didn't even have a Plan A.

Here’s what you do, Tony. You start by taking command away from the idiots responsible for the worst military and foreign relations blunder in American history. You stop following people who led the country into shit. You stop listening to people who lied, people who were horribly wrong time after time. And you hold them accountable for their lies and crimes.

That’s how it starts. It will take a long, long time to clean up this shit. The stains will never come out. But it starts by recognizing and admitting that the present course is wrong.