Yet Another Contract with America

Ghost of Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly used to tell his guests to "shut up" on a regular basis before Jack Shafer of Slate called him out on it. It looks like Tony Snow is going the same way. At the White House press briefing today, Snow told Ed Henry of CNN to "zip it" when Henry pressed him to define the Bush administration's "plan for success." Poor Ed Henry must not have gotten the memo that the White House is now trying to create a "chance for success" rather than the real thing. I wonder where they put the "Mission Accomplished" banner.

A Cold Cuppa Joe. Joe Lieberman put on his best media whore face as he came before the MSNBC cameras to tell America that we needed to "declare a truce in the political wars here about the real war in Iraq for about six months." According to Crooks & Liars, six months is a Friedman unit in honor of columnist Tom Friedman's many admonitions that we should give the war "another six months." Six months from today will make 4 1/2 years of war in Iraq which means that we'll be finishing our ninth Friedman unit of seeing the Iraq War descend from celebrations of "Mission Accomplished" to "a chance for success."

Let's Make a Deal. Let's say that Democratic politicians, the mainstream media, the liberal blogosphere, and everyday war critics agree to be quiet for six months. What will the Bush administration do for us in return? Give us peace and stability in Iraq? Well, that's what they say their goal is anyway. But what if Bush doesn't succeed? How will they compensate the 59% of the population that favors withdrawing from Iraq for six months of not talking about the failure of the war, the bungled war management, the inflated no-bid contracts to crony companies, all the dead and wounded soldiers, and all the suffering in Iraq?

I think there's a good chance for a deal here. If the Bush surge doesn't produce results, the Bush administration should resign and let Nancy Pelosi run a caretaker government. Given that Bush believes so strongly in following the advice of the military, he should simply ask the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the end of the six-month period whether we've achieved peace and stability in Iraq. If the Joint Chiefs say "no," then Bush, Cheney, and their whole team will quit and make room for a Pelosi and Murtha administration that would expedite a withdrawal. If the Joint Chiefs say "yes" and they're not engaged in Gonzales standard lying, then Bush gets to fly his "Mission Accomplished" banner while the whole world eats crow. Of course, a national referendum or public opinion polling would be more democratic and I'm fully aware that the Bush administration takes a back seat to no one in their belief in democracy. However, I want to give the Bushies a fair chance to save their jobs. So, let it be the Joint Chiefs.

How about it, Mr. President? I'm willing to risk my free speech if you're willing to risk your job and your exalted standing as a better president than James Buchanan.