Second to Last Stand - One Friedman ago they said:

[babylonsister]

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Second to Last Stand

One Friedman ago today Chris Matthews said:


MATTHEWS: Well, I don`t think it`s his last stand. I think it`s the second to the last stand. I think asking for more troops suggests hope that if we try a little harder, it will work. I think the next go-around, six months from now, or a year from now, perhaps, you`ll see the president come back to the American people and say, give me one last shot at this. I think he has one more chance after this. It`s not the end of the game.

This is the second to the last battle, I believe, of this war politically. But I do believe his numbers will continue to go down. I think we`ll see casualties in the streets of Iraq, Baghdad. It`s going to be a bloody campaign and I don`t think it`s going to yield stability.

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One Friedman ago today, Quiet American from Brookings Michael O'Hanlon said:


He has one last shot, and that's the way to look at it, I think. It's Hail, Mary time.

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One Friedman ago, Mary Matalin said:


But we will be able to know in the next six months, although the sustained effort has to take longer than six months.

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One Friedman ago, ABC News's David Kerley said:


You know, we've talked about that before here, Sam, on this program, that this is, the President believes, his last shot.

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One Friedman ago, Pat Buchanan said (on Scarborough):


This is why I`m saying, look, this is the last chance for Maliki, the last chance for the Americans.

The full context for these nutters was:


BUCHANAN: He has said it this time. The last test is right now.

This is why I`m saying, look, this is the last chance for Maliki, the last chance for the Americans. The acid test is whether they go after the Mahdi army, which I think knows we will go after them. And that`s why I think it may very well run to earth for the next six months.

SCARBOROUGH: We have to -- we have to do that. We have to go after al-Sadr. We have to go after the Mahdi army. And, if we are, in fact, trying to start a democracy over there, and bring justice to Iraq, then, we have to arrest or kill al-Sadr.



Judd Legum, on the same show, provided sanity:


LEGUM: It was really -- it was kind of a letdown. And I predict that, you know, in six months nobody is going to remember this speech. The strategy laid out today won`t have an impact on the situation in Iraq.

And all the people who are on TV today say, "This is the last chance. This is our one last shot. We`ve got to give it a go," are going to be saying again, we need to give it one last chance. I give it a go.

[BlooInBloo]

1. That was a great set of posts.

[Jim__]

2. The thing about Friedman units ...

... you're always at the beginning of one; never at the end.

[endarkenment]

3. Wow.

But then again, as Moore clobbered wolfie with last night: these clowns are not even trying to get it right. They all have collective amnesia. They all think we are stupid, we are apathetic, we will buy anything they care to sell us....

They could be right.

[TransitJohn]

4. K&R

Thanks for the post.