Bush: ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’

[SA210]

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/22/bush-stay-the-course/

[ChumpDumper]

"We're making steady progress. A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course."

-- George W. Bush, July 10, 2003 (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2003/n07102003_200307101.html)

"Listen, we've never been stay the course"

-- George W. Bush, October 22, 2006 (http://mediamatters.org/items/200610220001)

[George W Bush]

"We're making steady progress. A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course."

-- George W. Bush, July 10, 2003 (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2003/n07102003_200307101.html)

"Listen, we've never been stay the course"

-- George W. Bush, October 22, 2006 (http://mediamatters.org/items/200610220001)

hehe...
What can I say...

I was for it, before I was against it.

[JoeChalupa]

Damn, flip flopper.

[Ocotillo]

What color is the sky in Bush World?

[boutons_]

"The Madness of King George"

dubya has flipped from being just flippin' stupid to being flippin' flipped out.

[George Gervin's Afro]

I have no idea where anyone could get the impression Bush was staying on a certain course. :wtf

[JohnnyMarzetti]

Dumbya proves he's an idiot once again. No wonder Yoniwhore and XYZebrastripes understand him so well.

[SA210]

Bush has been quoted by journalist Bob Woodward as saying, "I'll stay in Iraq even if the only support I have left is from my wife and my dog."


:dizzy

[midgetonadonkey]

Bush has been quoted by journalist Bob Woodward as saying, "I'll stay in Iraq even if the only support I have left is from my wife and my dog."


:dizzy

That's what a good leader would do.

[SA210]

That's what a good leader would do.
Haven't you heard?

Bush says he was never for staying the course.

[DarkReign]

This guy rules. He would be so much funnier in a television role as President. Sadly, hes the real deal.

[clambake]

^ you don't have a very high regard for our pres.

You must have based your opinion on recent history.

[midgetonadonkey]

I pray Bush gets a raging case of herpes.

[Crookshanks]

"We're making steady progress. A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course."

-- George W. Bush, July 10, 2003 (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2003/n07102003_200307101.html)

"Listen, we've never been stay the course"

-- George W. Bush, October 22, 2006 (http://mediamatters.org/items/200610220001)

As usual, you libs don't have your facts straight. It wasn't the President who said the above quote - it was White House Counselor Dan Bartlett. :nope The President hasn't used that phrase in over two months.

Also, staying the course doesn't necessarily mean using the same strategy - it means staying in Iraq until the job is done. And on that, the President has never wavered.

[Ocotillo]

link (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/23/165910/09)

Say what?

[ChumpDumper]

What the hell are you talking about?

I linked two direct quotes from George W. Bush -- one link is from the Department of Defense website and the other even has a video of Bush saying the exact words. You won't find the word Bartlett anywhere in either article.

Where is your Bartlett link? We're waiting.

[ChumpDumper]

link (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/23/165910/09)

Say what?That was obviously Dan Bartlett, you idiot.

[Oh, Gee!!]

The President hasn't used that phrase in over two months.

Well in that case: 4 more years!!!

[Crookshanks]

Here ya go!!


Bush Drops `Stay the Course' on Iraq to Emphasize Flexibility

By Richard Keil and Demian McLean

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration has dropped the phrase ``stay the course'' from discussions about Iraq as a recent surge in violence has forced a change in tactics on the ground and renewed calls in the U.S. for a different approach to the conflict.

President George W. Bush remains committed to the goal of setting Iraq up to govern itself and take responsibility for quelling sectarian strife, Press Secretary Tony Snow said today. Because the administration is flexible about how to achieve those goals, he said, Bush is no longer talking about sticking to one approach.

`It left the wrong impression about what was going on,'' Snow said. ``And it allowed critics to say, `Well, here's an administration that's just embarked upon a policy of not looking at what the situation is,' when, in fact, it's just the opposite.''

Democrats have been repeating the phrase, which Bush has used in speeches and other remarks, in their criticism of the president's policy as they campaign overturn the Republican majority in Congress in the Nov. 7 election. The administration and congressional Republicans are countering by trying to reshape the debate on the war, which polls show is increasingly unpopular with the U.S. public.

Snow and White House Counselor Dan Bartlett stressed that the U.S. is being flexible while staying true to the president's overall strategy.

Flexibility

``It's never been a stay-the-course strategy,'' Bartlett said on CBS's ``Early Show,'' one of five morning news programs where he gave interviews today. ``Strategically, we think it's very important that we stay in Iraq and we win in Iraq.''
Snow also said the U.S. is pressing the Iraqi government to take more responsibility for quelling the sectarian and insurgent violence that has wracked the country, while declining to issue firm deadlines for achieving milestones.

``We're not in the business of issuing ultimatums,'' Snow said.

``This has always been a dynamic policy that is aimed at moving forward, at all times, on a number of fronts,'' he said. Bush hasn't used the phrase ``stay the course'' for at least two months, according to Snow.

Communications strategists working with House Republicans circulated a three-page memo today that advises candidates to stress those same points in their campaigns. It suggests Republicans highlight past statements by military and administration officials that show that the U.S. is adapting to changing military conditions and requiring Iraqi police and security forces to take a more prominent role in combating sectarian violence.

`Winning'

``Winning means helping the Iraqis achieve stability and security and doing it as quickly and effectively as possible in order to bring our troops home,'' the memo states in a section outlining suggested talking points for candidates. ``We continue to work with the Iraqis to do this.''

Bush is under increasing pressure to change his Iraq strategy as casualties mount more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion. At least 81 military personnel have been killed in action this month, the highest total since November 2004. Six soldiers and four Marines were killed since Oct. 21, the U.S. Army said in e-mailed statements.

An independent bipartisan commission established by Congress and headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Representative Lee Hamilton plans to make recommendations on U.S. policy in Iraq after the November election.

Britain's army chief, General Richard Dannatt, said Oct. 13 that U.K. soldiers in Iraq are in danger of exhaustion and that they should be withdrawn in ``a year or two or three.''

Election

Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of the administration's Iraq policy, said a change in Congress may bring a change in Iraq.

The outcome of the election ``will determine if we have any chance of getting the administration off its absolutely, totally failed policy in Iraq,'' Biden said in a conference call with reporters.

Biden said that two Republican senators, who he refused to name, have given him private assurances that they will join a bipartisan effort to force a change in administration policy if Democrats make significant gains in the election.

Bush met two days ago with his military commanders to discuss strategy, after a security clampdown by U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad was met with a surge in sectarian violence.

Bush acknowledged the same day that the situation in Iraq remains difficult. ``As we engage our enemies in their stronghold, these enemies are putting up a tough fight,'' he said in his weekly radio address.

U.S. public optimism about the outlook for the war in Iraq has dropped to just 20 percent, compared with 45 percent in June, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll of 1,006 registered voters. The survey, published Oct. 19, had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Keil in Washington at [email protected] ; Demian McLean in Washington at [email protected]

[ChumpDumper]

It wasn't the President who said the above quoteThis bears repeating. Either she was too lazy or stupid to click the link to see Bush saying the exact words I quoted, or she is in such an advanced state of denial that her warped mind changed the words, image and voice of her beloved President into his lawyer.

Well, which is it?

Oh, and I actually found where Bartlett said it, no thanks to you. Gee, shanks, do you think these guys might get together and discuss what to say on the news talk shows?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Here's Bartlett on video saying it.

http://www.youtube.com/v/qZE20lzZZF0

Now, let's see if she can figure out the guy who is the President of the United States in this clip.

[boutons_]

"The President hasn't used that phrase in over two months."

holy fucking shit, you people are amazing.

dubya's ridiculed for parroting simplistically his world-famous slogan "stay the course" for what, 2+ years?, and now because he quit saying it, he now can say he NEVER said it?

This Repug WH is so much like Nixon's "fin de regime" WH, where Tricky's press secretary (aka liar) Ron Zielger was immortalized for saying, paraphrase, "what we said before is inoperative", as if they had their fingers crossed behind their back giving them a child-like exception from telling the truth.

[Crookshanks]

Actually, I'm at work and I don't have the capability to hear video clips - so excuuuse me! I read the article and used that as my source.

Of course they get together and talk about what to say - just as the democrats do. Why do you think they all say the same thing on almost every issue. I've heard montages that Rush has done on this very "phenomenon" and it's quite hilarious to hear all the different democrats saying the same thing, and usually it's the same soundbite that the dinosaur media is using.

However, you ignored the second part of my post. You know, where I said that "staying the course" means staying in Iraq until the job is done.

[ChumpDumper]

Listen, we've never been stay the course
It's never been a stay-the-course strategy
It wasn't the President who said the above quote

[johnsmith]

Wait a second, did you add some stuff to Crookshanks name? You clever son of a bitch.

[ChumpDumper]

Actually, I'm at work and I don't have the capability to hear video clips - so excuuuse me! Bullshit. There's a transcript of the exchange between Bush and Stephanopoulos right on that page. Just admit you didn't look at it and save yourself further embarrassment.

[Crookshanks]

Again, I think you guys are taking the literal words of the President and calling him a liar; when, in fact, he's just changed the terminology, not the overall strategy. Each time he mentioned "stay the course" he was referring to staying in Iraq until the job was done and not leaving before that time.

[clambake]

Very good reasons exist for calling him a liar, but you go ahead and pretend he's not.

The world needs bottom feeders too.

[ChumpDumper]

Again, I think you guys are taking the literal words of the President and calling him a liar. Each time he mentioned "stay the course" he was referring to staying in Iraq until the job was done and not leaving before that time.So why would he stop saying it now and completely disown the phrase?

[JoeChalupa]

Everbody, and I do mean EVERYBODY, knows damn well that Bush has has said "We must stay the course" more than just once. It doesn't matter that he hasn't said it in 2 months does it?

[ChumpDumper]

And I didn't call him a liar, shanks, I'm calling him comically inept. I'm calling you a liar since there is no way you could have posted your flat-out denial of Bush's quote had you actually read the article I linked.

[boutons_]

we need a youtube with extracts from all his speeches of 2+ years where he says "stay the course" followed with the above video :lol

[ChumpDumper]

Does anyone click the links?

[Nbadan]

we need a youtube with extracts from all his speeches of 2+ years where he says "stay the course" followed with the above video :lol

Yes, we do (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZE20lzZZF0)

:lol

[boutons_]

but crooky's "belief" in dubya, like her "science", will stand all assaults by hard facts! :lol

[Zunni]

He was "Stay the course!" before he was "I've never been stay the course!".

Fucking flip flopper...

[SA210]

And I didn't call him a liar.
I did.

[Trainwreck2100]

It must be nice to be a 4 year lame duck

[ChumpDumper]

I'm still waiting for some explanation from Crookshanks.

Should be interesting.

[RandomGuy]

However, you ignored the second part of my post. You know, where I said that "staying the course" means staying in Iraq until the job is done.

In that I used to agree with the President. I figured it was the moral staying to help fix the place after you drove your car into a neighbor's living room.

BUT

Answer this question:

How will we know exactly when the job is done?

[boutons_]

When the Generals say so, the prediction du jour is 12 - 18 months.

==============

October 24, 2006

Iraq Agrees to New Security Timetable, U.S. Officials Say

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:06 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. officials said Tuesday Iraq's government has agreed to develop a timeline for progress by the end of the year, and Iraqi forces should be able to take full control of security in the country in the next 12 to 18 months with minimal American support.

( just in time for the 2008 elections, and announced just before the 2006 election. )
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, also said he felt the United States should continue to focus on drawing down the number of American forces in the country, adding that he would not hesitate to ask for more troops if he felt they were necessary.

( where is he going to get them? )

The comments came after a spike in violence during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Casey said the Iraqi army lost 300 men during the fasting month ending this week.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that the Iraqi government had agreed to develop a timeline for progress by the end of the year. He declared that the United States needed to redouble its efforts to succeed in Iraq.

Khalilzad and Casey appeared at a rare joint news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad. A power failure in the Green Zone briefly cut off the broadcast of the remarks.

Both men castigated Iran and Syria, Iraq's neighbors east and West, for trying to undermine the American effort to stabilize the country.

( castigating them will stop them from undermining, right. Syria and Iraq have then own timetable and objectives for Iraq. What happens in Iraq is pretty much out of US's hands )

Khalilzad said that radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who controls the violent Mahdi Army militia, had agreed to U.S. demands that the government develop a timeline for reducing violence and stabilize the political situation.

The month of October has proven especially deadly for U.S. forces as well.

The American military announced that two more U.S. Marines were killed during combat in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province. The deaths raised to 89 the number of U.S. forces killed in October, the highest toll for any month this year and on course to surpass the October 2005 total of 96. Before that the deadliest months were January 2005, at 107; November 2004 at 137 and April 2004, at 135.

A U.S. military spokesman also said earlier Tuesday there had been no word on the fate of an American soldier reported missing the day before in Baghdad. Troops carrying photos of the missing soldier continued door-to-door searches while Army Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters circled overhead in the central Karradah district.

The missing soldier's name and other personal details have not been officially released. American troops who raided Baghdad's al-Furat TV on Monday said they were looking for an abducted American officer of Iraqi descent who had gone to join family members in Karradah.

"We have not heard anything," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, an American spokesman in Baghdad, said. "We are sure U.S. forces are doing everything they can in the search."

A U.S. military official in Washington on Monday said the missing soldier was a U.S. Army translator of Iraqi descent who may have been abducted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not cleared for release.

Sectarian violence persisted in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, with at least two more policemen shot to death early Tuesday. Militiamen loyal to an anti-American cleric have been hunting down officers aligned with a rival group in a new outbreak of Shiite-on-Shiite revenge attacks in the city.

The latest killings in Amarah follow the murders of four policemen on Monday, which were blamed on fighters of the Mahdi Army headed by al-Sadr. Those forces appeared to have control of the southern city's streets after the police force dominated by the rival Badr Brigades fled. Although the Iraqi army set up a few roadblocks, troops did not seek to block Mahdi fighters.

The spread of revenge killings among Shiites in their southern heartland poses a new challenge for the Iraqi government and American forces struggling to control insurgent and sectarian bloodshed to the north -- especially in Baghdad. It also bodes ill for greater political progress; both al-Sadr's party and the sponsors of the Badr Brigades, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, are members of the ruling Shiite coalition.

The attacks came despite a public call by al-Sadr to halt the killings, suggesting that splinter groups were developing within his militia.

Al-Sadr repeated those calls in an address to supporters Tuesday marking the beginning of the three-day festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. Sunni Muslims marked the start of the festival on Monday. Celebrations in Baghdad were muted due to fears over the capital's worsening security situation.

"I totally reject any Shiite-Shiite fighting or Sunni-Shiite sectarian fighting in Iraq under any pretext," al-Sadr said. "Protecting Iraq is our main goal and the expulsion of the occupation troops from the country is our objective too."

The conflict in Amarah claimed the lives of 25 police and Mahdi Army fighters late last week when the militia stormed into the city seeking revenge for the kidnapping of the brother of its local commander.

Following two days of relative calm, Mahdi fighters began targeting Badr Brigades-aligned policemen on Monday, while Badr Brigades fighters beheaded the kidnapped nephew of the slain Mahdi commander.

As with most religious occasions in Iraq, the Eid al-Fitr observances were laden with political overtones.

In an address to hundreds of supporters following morning prayers, the head of SCIRI praised a recently passed federalism law that Sunnis fear could divide Iraq into three mini-states and cut them off the nation's oil wealth.

"Those who oppose and attack this project ... are either wrong with good intentions, or deluded, or ignorant or enemies of the Iraqi people and do not want good for Iraq," Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim said.

Underscoring security concerns, al-Hakim spoke from behind a screen of bulletproof glass surrounded by bodyguards at the party's Baghdad headquarters.

[SA210]

A timetable? What? :dizzy

[George Gervin's Afro]

As usual, you libs don't have your facts straight. It wasn't the President who said the above quote - it was White House Counselor Dan Bartlett. :nope The President hasn't used that phrase in over two months.

Also, staying the course doesn't necessarily mean using the same strategy - it means staying in Iraq until the job is done. And on that, the President has never wavered.


So when Dems call for troop reductions they are labled as cutting and running..yet a Republican proposes the same thing and it is known as drawing down... Stop with the selective outrage on speech being used against a politican

[Medvedenko]

It's too funny...how can the republicans still back this guy. Don't they have any self respect left.

[td4mvp21]

:rolleyes Wow he's the first person to ever change his mind in the history of the world! Or "lie" to America!

[Condemned 2 HelLA]

So now that "stay the course" is allegedly not the motto, are the Righties looking for a NEWER hip catch phrase to justify all their nonsense?

[boutons_]

The Iraqi govt is too weak and divided, it hasn't delivered yet, it can't deliver, and it wont deliver 100% responsibility for security in 12 - 18 months.

Badr/Sadr/al-Qaida militia want the US to leave, and they are stronger than the Iraqi police/army.

Casey is blowing smoke up our asses, but he's just following orders from dubya/rummy.

[Ocotillo]

It's too funny...how can the republicans still back this guy. Don't they have any self respect left.

They are like a cult in that they just follow this guy. Seems to be about 33% of the country (and 54% of Texas). I don't want to hear any crap from any of them about Tom Cruise and Scientology, there is not much difference.

[td4mvp21]

They are like a cult in that they just follow this guy. Seems to be about 33% of the country (and 54% of Texas). I don't want to hear any crap from any of them about Tom Cruise and Scientology, there is not much difference.

I'm sorry, but Democrats would do the same thing. It's just how the two parties are.

[clambake]

Minus the republicans that are now turning on him.

Too little, too late.

[SA210]

Snow Falsely Claims Bush Said ‘Stay The Course’ Only 8 Times (Actually, It’s At Least 30)

video: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/24/snow-stay-the-course/


On Sunday, President Bush told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that his Iraq policy has “never been stay the course (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/22/bush-stay-the-course/).” (Today, Rumsfeld disagreed, calling suggestions they were backing away from the phrase “nonsense (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/24/rumsfeld-stay-course/).”)

Moments ago on Fox News, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said “we went back and looked today and could only find eight times where he ever used the phrase stay the course.”

Apparently, the White House research team isn’t very good at “the Google (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/23/bush-says-he-uses-the-google/).” ThinkProgress has documented 30 times that Bush has used the phrase to describe his policy in Iraq:

Digg It! (http://digg.com/political_opinion/Tony_Snow_Falsely_Claims_Bush_Said_Stay_The_Course _Only_Eight_Times)



BUSH: We will [b]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. [8/30/06 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060830-10.html)]


BUSH: Stay the course also means don’t leave before the job (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/24/snow-stay-the-course/#) is done. And that’s - we’re going to get the job done in Iraq. [8/11/06 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061011-5.html)]

BUSH: As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course. [7/11/06 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060711-11.html)]

BUSH: And I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed. [6/19/06 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060619-14.html)]

BUSH: If we don’t lose our nerve, if we stay the course, someday down the road, an American President will be working with democratically-elected leaders in the broader Middle East at the table to keep the peace. [3/24/06 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060324-5.html)]

BUSH: Some critics continue to assert that we have no plan in Iraq except to, “stay the course.” If by “stay the course,” they mean we will not allow the terrorists to break our will, they are right. If by “stay the course,” they mean we will not permit al Qaeda to turn Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban - a safe haven for terrorism and a launching pad for attacks on America - they are right, as well. If by “stay the course” they mean that we’re not learning from our experiences, or adjusting our tactics to meet the challenges on the ground, then they’re flat wrong. [11/30/05 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051130-2.html)]

BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050804-2.html)]

BUSH: And so the United States of America will stay the course and we will complete the task. We’ll help Iraq develop a democracy and the world will be better off for it. [11/21/04 (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0411/21/sun.03.html)]

BUSH: My message is that - is that we will stay the course and stand with these people so that they become free. [9/23/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040923-8.html)]

BUSH: We will stay the course so that they can develop an army and police force of their own so they can defend themselves. [9/13/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040913-4.html)]

BUSH: We must stay the course until the job is done. [8/13/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040813-7.html)]

BUSH: But Americans are used to hard work when it comes to a cause greater than ourself. And that’s what we’re doing. And we’ll stay the course. [4/20/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040420-4.html)]

BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. [4/16/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040416-4.html)]

BUSH: And we will stay the course in Iraq so that his son did not die in vain. [4/15/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040415-7.html)]

BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course; we’ll complete the job. [4/13/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040413-20.html)]

BUSH: We will stay the course in Iraq. [4/6/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040406-6.html)]

BUSH: So we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040405-3.html)]

BUSH: You know, I told the family how much we appreciated his sacrifice - he was killed in Iraq - and assured him that we would stay the course. [4/5/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040405-4.html)]

BUSH: I met with the family of a fellow who - who was killed in Iraq. … I told the - I told the dad, and the mom, and the wife that we’d stay the course. [4/5/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040405-5.html)]

BUSH: This country will stay the course and get the job done. [4/2/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040402-4.html)]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, because a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will make the world more peaceful. [1/23/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040123-2.html)]

BUSH: And we will stay the course until the job is done. [1/12/04 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040112-7.html)]

BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031215-3.html)]

BUSH: I was able to assure them that we were going to stay the course and get the job done, but I also reminded them what I said publicly, that it’s up to them to seize the moment, to have a government that recognizes all rights, the rights of the majority and the rights of the minority, to speak to the aspirations and hopes of the Iraqi people. [11/27/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031127-1.html)]

BUSH: We will stay the course, and as more and more Iraqis realize freedom is precious and freedom is a beautiful way of life, they will assume more and more responsibilities, not only for security, but for humanitarian reasons, as well. [11/14/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031114-3.html)]

BUSH: It’s in the national interest of the United States that a peaceful Iraq emerge. And we will stay the course in order to achieve this objective. [10/27/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031027-1.html)]

BUSH: And we’ll just stay the course. [10/22/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031022-13.html)]

BUSH: We talked about Iraq. And I told him and assured him that the United States would stay the course because we believe freedom is on its way to the Iraqi people. [7/14/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030714-3.html)]

BUSH: We’re making steady progress. A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it’s very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course. [7/10/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030710-3.html)]

BUSH: Not only does the war on terror go on, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in Iraq. And we’re going to stay the course until the job gets done. [6/5/03 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/06/20030605-1.html)]

[ChumpDumper]

I expect the disingenuousness by now, but the sheer amateurism shown in handling this is just sad. Was this a calculated cessation of the use of the term or did a flustered Bush just make a gaffe that prompted his handlers to ditch the term to keep him from looking contradictory and foolish?

[xrayzebra]

Well as far as I know, we are going to stay the course,
not cut and run as you folks would like.

[ChumpDumper]

Well as far as I know, we are going to stay the courseYou're not allowed to say that anymore.
not cut and run as you folks would like.But we are leaving. There's a timetable to make a timetable.

[SA210]

These guys love using and playing with words.

Estate Tax becomes "Death Tax"
Wiretapping becomes "Terrorist Surveillance Program"
Torchure becomes "Aggressive Interrogation Program"

Timeline or timetables have been changed to "Benchmarks" :lol



October 26th, 2006 4:31 am
Bush's Proposal of 'Benchmarks' for Iraq Sounds Familiar



By Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501635.html?nav=rss_world)

The text of President Bush's news conference yesterday ran to nearly 10,000 words, but what may have been more significant were the things he did not say.

The president talked repeatedly about "benchmarks" for progress in Iraq, using that word 13 times. But he did not discuss the consequences of the Iraqi government missing those targets. Such a question, he said, was "hypothetical."

That response left unclear how the benchmarks would be different from previous times when the United States has set out intentions, only to back down. For example, the original war plan envisioned the U.S. troop presence in Iraq being cut to 30,000 by the fall of 2003. Last year, some top U.S. commanders thought they would be able to significantly cut the U.S. troop level in Iraq this year -- a hope now officially abandoned. More recently, the U.S. military all but withdrew from Baghdad, only to have to have to reenter the capital as security evaporated from its streets and Iraqi forces proved unable to restore calm by themselves.

President Bush also spoke several times yesterday about his flexibility, apparently as a way of countering critics calling for a major change in his approach to Iraq. But he made it clear that he was talking about tactical adjustments :lol, rather than the kind of sweeping strategic revision being mulled by the Iraq Study Group led by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former representative Lee H. Hamilton, and also being urged by a host of members of Congress and political pundits.

More briefly, he touched upon establishing Iraqi security forces. But he did not use his old favorite phrase about U.S. troops "standing down as they stand up." He mentioned the goal of training about 325,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers, but he did not address the paradox that as that goal is neared, violence has intensified and the insurgency appears as robust as ever. Nor did he note that after U.S. forces stood down in Baghdad, they had to stand back up again. Instead, without offering much explanation, he said that "we are refining our training strategy for the Iraqi security forces."

At the same time, the president's tone has changed markedly. Gone was the talk of past Bush administration news conferences about "steady progress" in Iraq and all the good news that the media was said to be ignoring there. Instead he began yesterday's session with a straightforward and even grim account of the events of the past month in Iraq. He noted the deaths of 93 U.S. soldiers over the past 25 days. "I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq," he said. "I'm not satisfied either." So, he said, the American effort in Iraq is "constantly adjusting our tactics."

Yet under his sober mien and a newfound insistence on adaptability, he appeared to be quietly digging in his heels. "Our goals are unchanging," he emphasized in his opening remarks. "We are flexible in our methods to achieving those goals."

His bottom line was that "we'll work as fast as we can get the job done." That open-ended commitment to an unchanging goal doesn't seem different from the answer being given by Bush administration officials three years and 2,802 U.S. military deaths ago -- that the U.S. effort in Iraq would last "as long as it takes."

Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking minority member on the Armed Services Committee and a member of the intelligence committee, said Bush "has dropped the rhetoric, but the policies are the same."

Kurt Campbell, a Clinton-era Pentagon official and co-author of a new book on defense politics, interpreted the president's comments as an effort to patch up differences within the Republican Party over Iraq and to aid candidates facing close elections in two weeks. "It was meant to appeal to both the 'stay the course' crowd and the 'we need a responsible change' crowd," he said. But Campbell said he expected a major strategic revision on Iraq soon after that vote, predicting that "the political dynamics are going to change radically after the election."

Vin Weber, a lobbyist and former Republican member of Congress with ties to the White House, said he thought the president more broadly was trying to appeal to the American public as it loses faith in his Iraq policy. "Basically, the bottom has fallen out," he said. "The public is on the verge of throwing up its hands over Iraq." He agreed with Campbell that the domestic politics of the Iraq situation are going to alter in a few weeks, perhaps in unpredictable ways that will be shaped by the outcome of the midterm elections.

But former New York governor Mario M. Cuomo (D) said he thought that the president actually was laying the groundwork for disengaging from Iraq. "I think the war is virtually over," he said. By emphasizing benchmarks, Cuomo said, "what he is saying is, 'We are going to leave it to the Iraqis.' "

Under a barrage of sharp questions from reporters, pointing again and again to contradictions and problems in his stance on Iraq, President Bush clung to his most basic line of defense -- his own faith and confidence in his approach. He used the word "believe" 21 times in the course of the hour-long news conference.

"I believe that the military strategy we have is going to work, that's what I believe," he said to one reporter.

Staff writer Walter Pincus contributed to this report.

[clambake]

How do Xray?

The situation should be termed "cut and dried". Not a day goes by that Bush doesn't change the meaning of one or more talking points.

That's what failure will lead you to. "This is what I really meant............." and the fans soak it in.