"I don't think you can win it"

It may change in the coming hours, but right now the home page of The New York Times features a banner headline that reads:

"Giuliani Lauds Bush's Leadership on Terror"

Just below this is another headline:

"Bush Cites Doubts America Can Win War on Terror."

In standard English, that headline would read "Bush Doubts America Can Win War on Terror" -- the doubts that he "cites" are no one's but his own, as Elisabeth Bumiller reports:

President Bush, in an interview broadcast on Monday, said he did not think America could win the war on terror but that it could make terrorism less acceptable around the world, a departure from his previous optimistic statements that the United States would eventually prevail.

In the interview with Matt Lauer of the NBC News program "Today," conducted on Saturday but shown on the opening day of the Republican National Convention, Mr. Bush was asked if the United States could win the war against terrorism, which he has made the focus of his administration and the central thrust of his re-election campaign.

"I don't think you can win it," Mr. Bush replied. "But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

This is exactly the kind of nuanced, agonized, flip-floppery of which Bush and his surrogates are always accusing his opponents. (Tim Dunlop has some fun with this.) It also contrasts dramatically with the statements made later that very day by speakers at the Republican National Convention.

To illustrate that contrast, I've put together the following responsive reading, juxtaposing George W. Bush's wishy-washy pessimism with the image of the strong, decisive and determined leader portrayed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in their primetime speeches last night:

GIULIANI: So long as George Bush is our president, is there any doubt [terrorists] will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism?

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

McCAIN: My friends in the Democratic Party -- and I'm fortunate to call many of them my friends -- assure us they share the conviction that winning the war against terrorism is our government's most important obligation.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

GIULIANI: The president announced the Bush Doctrine, when he said, "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

McCAIN: But an absence of complacency should not provoke an absence of confidence.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

GIULIANI: We have won many battles in this war on terror, at home and abroad. But as President Bush told us way back on September 20, 2001, it will take a long-term determined effort to prevail.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

McCAIN: We must learn from our mistakes, improve on our successes, and vanquish this unpardonable enemy.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

GIULIANI: Don't be discouraged. Don't be cynical. We'll see an end to global terrorism. I can see it. I believe it. I know it will happen.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

McCAIN: And this president will not rest until America is stronger and safer still and this hateful iniquity is vanquished.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

JOHN KERRY: We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win.

BUSH: "I don't think you can win it."

Comments

[Riggsveda]

What's the matter, George...God suddenly busy elsewhere?

[Chris]

Yeah, except this is one of the first things the President ever said that I actually agree with...

[Beth]

There's a new headline now: "After Citing Doubt, Bush Declares 'We Will Win' Terror War." The lede says, "The president today declared that the U.S. will win the war on terrorism, despite his comments suggesting otherwise on Monday."

Is that what they call 'flip-flopping'?

[Stephen]

This isn't a flip-flop. For Bush to do that, he would need to have held an actual position on something.

Bush, incapable of even reading words off a teleprompter clearly, merely showed us again what a sad, pathetic puppet he is.

Maybe the Secret Service didn't give him his meds, but what happened is that the poor guy, suddenly unable to remember the talking points he had been briefed on, decided to wing it. So of course what he said had no connection whatever to anything else he's ever said, and his staff - perhaps the most overworked people on the planet - once again found themselves scrambling to find some reason, any reason, why he would have said something so off-message.

The best they could come up with is that he meant we weren't going to sit down with the terrorists at a table and sign a truce or something, which doesn't even make sense.

Four years ago, they celebrated his stupidity and campaigned on the so-called expertise of his advisors. But the whole country hates Cheney and Rumsfeld, and Powell and Rice have been completely discredited, so now poor George has to act as if he is actually the president, actually up to the task of governing or maintaining coherence during a 15-minute (or whatever it was) interview.

And that's why we just need to hold on until January. Help is on the way.

[the talking dog]

Chris--

That's just it! The statement actually reflects the sort of thinking from... an adult... that has been absent for years from the national discourse!

Rather than lambaste Bush for this (Kerry's knee-jerk reaction, btw), Democrats should welcome this as an opportunity to debate this issue without irrational scaremongering and demagoguery-- realizing that we ARE in the battle with terrorists for the long haul, and hence, sober, ADULT thinking, rather than chest thumping and
school yard name calling, are in order.

If Bush himself refuses to engage in the rational debate he himself has just invited, then we can schoolyard the cowardly, lily-livered deserter who crapped in his pants on 9-11 for the next two months.

[Scott]

But how can we lose when we have God on our side - can't you tell from the imagery which party God supports?

http://www.gopconvention.com/nycincludes/spotlight_rot/monday_night.jpg
http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/08/31/nyregion/mayor.184.1.jpg

[Beth]

Talking dog,
I feel you, but for months I've been hearing Kerry called a hypocrite for authorizing the use of force then criticizing Bush's ill-conceived war, a flip-flopper for supporting one version of a bill and opposing another, a cowardly sneak for not being wounded severely enough in Vietnam, and a wimp for suggesting sensitivity might be useful in dealing with the other cultures. Bush and his team have already made it perfectly clear that they're not interested in a rational debate. We need to treat Bush's statement exactly the way the Republicans would have if Kerry had said it. Now repeat after me: "Bush is a defeatist. Bush is a coward. Bush hates America."

[eric]

I actually agree with GW on this one. The war on 'Terror' is not a war that can be won. Leaving aside the mangling of the english language of declaring war on an emotion ( that is tightly connected with war ), Terrorisim is a tactic that can't be defeated, it can only fade away. Groups and individuals can be defeated, brought to justice, or be persued to the ends of the earth, but you can't eradicate a strategy.

[eristick]

Hey, Bush is the one who declared the "War On Terror." That's HIS administration's rhetoric that's been used to sell support for deployment of troops. (Because hey, what kind of nut is pro-terror?) And now he wants to appeal to moderates and back off from his "War On Terror" nomenclature in favor of something that sounds more attainable? That's convenient now that the election is looming, but not very consistent with the "Mission Accomplished" chest-thumping.

Sorry, troops...I know you were fighting against terror, but from now on, please fight to make terrorism feel uncomfortable. Meanwhile, we'll trust that the American public has less memory for our wins-losses record than your average baseball fan and will heartily cheer on cue.