We Know He Thinks He's Right

Speaker Pelosi and the White House are duking it over the President's plan to add more troops. (It's no longer being called a "surge" -- Condi Rice has offered "augmentation," according to Condi Rice, but most Democrats are sticking with the more martial "escalation." I think the Democrats are closer on this one: you escalate a conflict, you augment a breast.) Pelosi said the President "knows that because the troops are in harm's way that we won't cut off the resources. That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way."

In response, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said, "Speaker Pelosi was arguing, in essence, that the President is putting young men and women in harm's way for tactical political reasons, and she's questioning his motivations, rather than questioning his policies."

First of all, she (as well as most of Congress, or for that matter most of America) ARE questioning his policies. But second, I don't think Peroni's "in essence" was required. I think her questioning of the President's motivations was very clear. I haven't seen a response from Pelosi, but I think she'd admit to this. I think she SHOULD question his motivations. The American people quite clearly expressed their opinion about the President's performance and decision-making abilities in the mid-term election. We want a check on his powers.

Bush, stupid as he is, is not stupid enough not to use everything in his arsenal to get his way. As Peroni stated in the White House press briefing today, "The one thing you can say about President Bush is that he's not moving forward with this new plan because he thinks it is popular; he is doing it because he thinks it is right." We KNOW he thinks he's right -- that's the problem. That's why his side lost the election. We think he's wrong. So we voted in people who would start questioning his policies. But he's putting his plan into place before any real debate about the plan can really begin.