{"id":8202,"date":"2006-08-14T14:40:49","date_gmt":"2006-08-14T18:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/8202.html"},"modified":"2006-08-14T14:40:49","modified_gmt":"2006-08-14T18:40:49","slug":"meet-the-new-war-sound-bite-slightly-worse-than-the-old-war-sound-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/meet-the-new-war-sound-bite-slightly-worse-than-the-old-war-sound-bite\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the new war sound bite; slightly worse than the old war sound bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

RNC Chairman Ken [tag]Mehlman[\/tag] has used “[tag]cut and run[\/tag]” so many times, I suspect he’s close to developing a nervous twitch over it. Nevertheless, while he’s been smearing Dems, Mehlman has been stuck with “[tag]stay the course[\/tag].” Yesterday on Meet the Press, Mehlman tried to replace it with a new soundbite<\/a>. See if you can spot it.<\/p>\n

“Look, the fact is that our mission in the war in Iraq is critical. We agree on that; we agree it’s wrong to cut and run. But look, we’re not coming in and saying ‘Stay the course.’ The choice in this election is not between ‘Stay the course’ and ‘Cut and run,’ it’s between ‘[tag]Win by adapting[\/tag]<\/b>‘ and ‘Cut and run.’<\/p>\n

“Let me tell you what we’re doing. The fact is, before the successful Iraqi elections, the number of troops went up from 137,000 to 167,000. That’s adapting to win<\/b>. Recently, the increased troops in Baghdad, adapting to win<\/b>. We changed how the training of Iraqi forces occurred to involve more Iraqis. That’s adapting to win<\/b>.<\/p>\n

“I acknowledge that when you’re facing any war, the enemy is smart, the enemy thinks, and particularly in this kind of war, it requires you to [tag]adapt to win[\/tag]<\/b>. We’re going to adapt to win<\/b>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mehlman is nothing if not subtle.<\/p>\n

Well, nothing, that is, except wrong and dishonest.
\n
\nFirst, as TP noted<\/a>, Mehlman’s assertion that conservatives are “not coming in and saying ‘Stay the course’ in Iraq is absurd. Amanda found<\/a> multiple instances of high-profile Republicans, including the president himself<\/a>, saying exactly that. Oddly enough, “stay the course” isn’t one of those bumper-sticker slogans Dems came up with to mock the GOP policy; it’s one of those bumper-sticker slogans Republicans crafted to describe their own<\/i> policy. It’s a little late for Mehlman to distance himself from it now.<\/p>\n

And second, what does “win by adapting” even mean? After more than three years of tragic mistakes, it appears to mean “make it up as we go along.”<\/p>\n

The “win by adapting” phrase seems to respond to the notion that Americans believe the president doesn’t have a plan to succeed. This little soundbite seems to argue, “No, of course he doesn’t have a plan. He shouldn’t<\/i> have a plan because plans lock you in. The president is constantly adapting to the situation.”<\/p>\n

No one, anywhere, will buy this nonsense, but be prepared to hear “win by adapting” several million times between now and November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RNC Chairman Ken [tag]Mehlman[\/tag] has used “[tag]cut and run[\/tag]” so many times, I suspect he’s close to developing a nervous twitch over it. Nevertheless, while he’s been smearing Dems, Mehlman has been stuck with “[tag]stay the course[\/tag].” Yesterday on Meet the Press, Mehlman tried to replace it with a new soundbite. See if you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}