Last impressions
I'm getting a little fed up with everyone declaring that the coming military escalation in Iraq is the last chance for success. Does anyone imagine that when this new tactic inevitably fails, the pundits and media outlets currently using the "last chance" formulation — Mort Kondrake, Christopher Hitchens*, Front Page, etc. — will actually tell Bush that he is now out of chances and demand withdrawal? Face it, anyone who still thinks Bush has a last chance is going to give him as many more last chances as he asks for.
It's gotten so bad that what passes for straight talk is John McCain saying, "This may not be our last chance, but it's as close to our last chance as anything I can think of," and Chris Matthews declaring it Bush's "second to last chance." Tom Friedman hedges his last chance talk by giving Bush a laundry of list of conditions there isn't a chance in hell he's going to meet — and then giving him a full year to meet them.
People who see through the smoke: Melinda Henneberger, Leonard Pitts.
*Hitch uses "last chance" only in the headline, which may well have been written by someone else. Also, his piece predicts utter failure for the surge, though he still holds out hope for something that will save his war.
Comments
No quarrel with your main point, but...
People who see through the smoke: Melinda Henneberger, Leonard Pitts.
This comes across as surprisingly old-media/elitist from you. The "last shot" was long ago pronounced a cliche at places like Crooks and Liars, and I believe it was Atrios who long ago introduced the Friedman Unit, defined as "the next six months," a crucial period during which everything is finally gonna turn around. That's why it's especially funny that Friedman would now bestow a full two F.U.s for Bush to magically turn everything around.
Posted by: Vance | January 17, 2007 12:33 PM
Who reads blogs?
Posted by: radosh | January 17, 2007 12:39 PM