Sorry, No Gotcha! Once Again

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Don’t you just love it when lefties think they have a “gotcha” moment, but when you read their “gotcha” it turns out to be wishful thinking on their part? Rathergate, KoranToiletGate, Foleygate….and so on. Well, add this one to the list:

On CBS this morning, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett claimed that the administration has “never” had “a stay-the-course strategy.” Watch it:

President Bush made the same claim over the weekend. It’s not true. For years, the White House has repeatedly described their Iraq policy as “stay the course.” Here’s the video evidence:

The lefty has a few videos up to proof his points, all highly edited…but no matter.

Simply put, the argument is ridiculous.

Here are a few of his recent “stay the course” comments:

Q You’ve raised a tremendous amount of money — I believe it’s $11 million — for Republican candidates. When you are out there and you meet somebody who’s on the fence, isn’t sure how they’re going to vote at this point, and they ask you about the war in Iraq, what do you say to them?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I say exactly what the President says, that we need to stay the course; that it’s really in our interest as Americans to make sure Iraq can build a stable democracy. You’ve seen lately, in the last few weeks, the Prime Minister of Iraq talking here. They want us to stay there, they want to be able to build a democracy. And if we left now, we would leave a country without the support they need to build a democracy.

and:

Iraq is the central front in this war on terror. If we leave the streets of Baghdad before the job is done, we will have to face the terrorists in our own cities. We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century.

and:

We’re not going to lose in Iraq. As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course. Twelve million people have voted. They’ve now got a unity government. I went over there and saw the man. Prime Minister Maliki.

and:

You know I just recently went to Baghdad, had an interesting experience there. I met the new Prime Minister and the new cabinet of a unity government. (Applause.) And here’s what I saw, I saw people dedicated to living out the — to living out the desires of the 12 million people who went to the polls in defiance of the car bombers and the killers. I saw people from different groups in that country coming together to say, we want to succeed. And I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed.

I went to Iraq, and I said, it’s up to you. It’s up to you to seize this moment. But I also told them this, when America gives its word, America will keep its word. And we will help this good country of Iraq become a thriving democracy in the heart of the Middle East. (Applause.)

Ok, now after reading those lets look at Bartlett’s statement: (via JustOneMinute)

BARTLETT: Well, Hannah, it’s never been a stay-the-course strategy. Strategically, we think it’s very important that we stay in Iraq and we win in Iraq. And if we were to cut and run and go and leave that country too early it would be a disaster for American policy.

But what we aren’t doing is sitting there with our heads in the sand. We’ve completely changing and making tactical changes on a week-by-week basis as we respond to the enemy’s reactions to our strategies.

After reading all that you quickly realize Bush and his administration has used this slogan to mean we will finish the job. Hannah (the host who questioned Bartlett) obviously believed “stay the course” meant using the same strategy over and over, never changing, alway “staying the course”…..

Reading the Bush quotes no one could come away with the same definition as Hannah and the lefties obviously did.

To actually believe Bush has meant we would never change our strategy would be foolish. But, even more foolishly, they now believe Bush is gearing up to abandon Iraq….and this new “we have never been about staying the course” hoopla is his way of prepping the people…..

Foolish foolish lefties….always good for a laugh.

UPDATE

Rob from Say Anything puts it bit more succinctly:

Over the weekend the New York Times reported that the Bush administration is considering a “timetable” for the mission in Iraq. The insinuation from the Times and others in the media was that said “timetable” represented a reversal of previous Bush administration policy which strongly resisted any sort of specific timetable for Iraq.

The Bush administration suggesting that a change in tactics means that the President is reversing on his “stay the course” message.

So the Bush administration responds to that insinuation by pointing out that a change in tactics doesn’t mean that we’re deviating from the overall goal in Iraq, which is to stay there until the mission is complete.

And typically for the left and their cohorts, ie the media, they twist and turn every single little statement made from the President to fit the square peg into a round hole.

I mean which is it? First the left complains about no plan, but then when Bush tells them over and over again what his plan is they accuse him of being unweilding, not willing to adapt strategy. Then when he says that the strategy is being tweaked they say “HEY! I thought you said you were staying the course!”

Perfect example….the NYT’s headline:

Bush, Facing Dissent on Iraq, Jettisons ‘Stay the Course

These people never learn.

Other’s Blogging:

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It doesn’t matter if by “stay the course” he meant “flop around in pig bristles”, when someone repeatedly says “We will do X” and then later says “We have never had a strategy of doing X”, it is what you would call a flip-flop if a Dem were doing it, and I call a lying about past statements. Your mental gymnastics to try and blame this on the libruls are impressive, but you should stop before you tear something.

Guys, come on. You can’t seriously believe that this is some kind of liberal gotcha moment. Is there anyone in America, even the most tuned out, who would not know of Bush’s “stay the course” plan? It is completely ludicrous to deny this, or explain it away. I realize that this depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is, but let’s get real. We cannot be fooled into accepting that stay the course has meant very little other than keeping the same amount fo troops, trying to do the same thing continually, and not seriously considering any other strategies, or even accepting the reaility of the situation, but to complain that the “liberal media” is not reporting the “good news.” I mean, somebody correct me if i’m wrong, but i don;t think my views are especially radical. i would be surprised if a majority of americans don’t think what I just wrote.

You gotta laugh.

Do a good search on new plan, Iraq, Bush.

See how many times Bush & Co. have announced a change in tactics all subtitled under the STC mantra.

You guys have got to be getting desperate and, I’d think, pretty tired of having this Administration and especially the President, make you all look like fools.

The greatest country in the world stuck between a rock and a hard place because Iraq was a fiasco since the beginning. Now that’s strategy.