Oooh, nuance!

In the criminal organization that is the Republican Party, disloyalty is the only crime that is ever punished. (As we know, Bush just admitted that someone in his government leaked Valerie Plame's name. His recommendation? We should "move on".)

In any case, Republic Senators Warner and Lugar should have known better than to approach George W. Bush with their proposition.

WASHINGTON — The White House is holding firm on its Iraq strategy in the face of yet another effort to curb the mission, proposed this time by moderate Republicans the Bush administration can ill afford to lose.

President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Sunday the administration's "very orderly process" for reviewing its Iraq plans should be allowed to play out despite a hurry-up initiative from two respected GOP senators.

Hadley's reply was "No" when asked whether Bush could live with the proposal by Sens. John Warner of Virginia and Richard Lugar of Indiana. They want to give the president until mid-October to submit a plan to restrict the use of U.S. troops in Iraq to fighting terrorists and securing borders and U.S. interests.

....

"They've done a useful service in indicating the kinds of things that we should be thinking about," Hadley said. "But the time to begin that process is September.

"And the opening shot really ought to be to hear from the commanders on the ground who can make an assessment of where we are."

First of all, I don't think this proposal had any chance to pass the Senate, so Bush isn't giving up much. But isn't the tone so in character for Bush's proxies? Somehow, I don't think they've ever read "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

It's just amazing how people keep trying to throw this drowning man a life preserver (remember the Baker-Hamilton Group, meant to provide Bush and Republics cover so they could exit Iraq gracefully?), and he keeps clutching his anvil instead.