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I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING, SO YOU'D BETTER LET ME KEEP DOING IT. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that part of George W. Bush's plan to sell escalation would be to admit failure. Yet in an interview with Jim Lehrer yesterday, that's exactly what Bush did:
Look, I had a choice to make, Jim, and that is - one - do what we're doing. And one could define that maybe a slow failure.To Lehrer's credit, he asked why anyone should believe Bush now, and the Decider returned to form: "Some of my decisions actually have worked, like getting rid of Saddam Hussein and helping the Iraqi government form a unity government that is based on a novel constitution for the Middle East." Now, of course, the whole point of escalation is that there is no "unity government," but rather a sectarian government responsible for slaughtering Iraqi Sunnis, something American troops are going to magically create the conditions for ending. Escalation, furthermore, throws five Army brigades onto the same ol' same ol' -- only now we'll also stumble into war with Iran for good measure -- so, if you think about it, Bush is saying we need to keep failing, only this time faster, and with more troops getting killed. I hope I can FOIA the meeting between Bush, Dan Bartlett , Josh Bolten, and Karl Rove in which they tell the boss, "Look, you've got a credibility problem, so here's what we do: you confess that you bollixed everything up. You're a total failure, a boob, a clown, a jackass. Credibility problem solved! Now people are sure to follow you back into war! And if anyone asks why, just say you've been doing everything right!"
--Spencer Ackerman