When Bipartisanship Hits the Fan

Bush's switch from 'stay the course' to 'adjust to win' is welcome --
if he actually means it -- but was too little, too late for the
electorate. The Decider decided to live in reality at pretty much the
eleventh hour and actually listen to somebody for a change. And the Republicans seem to have learned a new word -- "Bipartisanship."

The
'somebody' he'll be listening to today will be the bipartisan Iraq
Study Group. You get the idea that Bush knows (or at least has a good
idea of) what the recommendations will be. After all, he's picked
Robert Gates, who serves on the panel, to succeed Rumsfeld. It's hard
to believe that Team Bush would pick a group member without knowing
what the Study Group will suggest.

Where Dick Cheney had told
the nation the policy in Iraq would be "full speed ahead" (what is it
with these guys and nautical terms?), Bush chief of staff Josh Bolten,
apparently speaking for the broader White House consensus, told talking
heads on morning news shows, "We clearly need a fresh approach." You
kind of hope this means that folks are done listening to Shooter.
Firing Rumsfeld would suggest the same -- the neocons look like a
declining force...