[sweetjazz]

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In spite of that, I think it is a shame that your summary is all you took out of Bush's speech, or at least that is the attitude you chose to convey. While I think there are legitimate criticisms of Bush's speech, it also had some valid points and was a move toward improving the quality of the debate about Iraq and trying to build a consensus.

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Yes, consensus building typically revolves around taking your critics out to the woodshed and calling them defeatists.

The quality of debate has clearly improven if you're a strident right-winger, as the President said exactly what you wanted to hear: vocal critics are mere dishonest defeatists, who criticize for their own sheer 'partisan uses' in a way that 'is not justified by the facts'.

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You've mastered one of Bush's (and moveon.org's) common techniques: taking quotes out of context and trying to suggest that they say something other than what they did.

He did not say that all vocal critics are defeatists, but said that some are. I believe he hides behind this criticism too much, but unfortunately the hardcore prominent leftists keeps strengthening his case here by making criticisms that are so over the top that they have lost credibility to moderates.

He dismisses the extreme leftwing criticisms of the war, and he is right to do so. Unfortunately, he does try to use that as a rhetorical tool to downplay the legitimate criticisms of people who take the time to try in good faith to understand his perspective and still find it flawed.

Still, you have selectively quoting only what you wanted to hear and see. The reality is that while the Bush speech still had some serious flaws, it was better than previous ones and was the most significant concession of error he has made to this point. He made a limited and perhaps begrudging move toward opening the door for well-developed criticisms that accept what the situation in Iraq is, regardless of whether they agree we should have been there in the first place.

I am a Bush critic. I just care about developing better policies and convincing others to support them, and I find it both intellectually lazy and practically counterproductive to dwell on my personal feelings toward Bush. Your hatred and fervor toward Bush is no less irrational than that of conservatives towrards people like the Clintons.