Stay What Course?

The weakness, inherent in this Whitehouse, is coming to the fore. All of a sudden "Stay the course." are damning words and Bush and the GOP are running as fast as they can from the phrase, even to the point of saying that they never said it. This sudden flip-flop, just two weeks before the election is a classic demonstration of desperation and fear.

The Washington Post today has a brutal front page slam at Bush's flip-flop.

...the White House is cutting and running from "stay the course." A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week, Republican strategists say. Democrats have now turned "stay the course" into an attack line in campaign commercials, and the Bush team is busy explaining that "stay the course" does not actually mean stay the course.

For good analysis of why Bush and by extension all of us are screwed when it comes to Iraq Josh Marshall at TPM has his usual keen analysis.

But President Bush can't and won't withdraw from Iraq because when he does, under the current conditions, he'll sign the epitaph, the historical death warrant for his presidency. Unlike in the past there are no family friends to pawn the failure off on and let them take the loss. It's all his. So he'll keep kicking the can down the road forever.

h/t to AMERICAblog