[sweetjazz]

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Improving the quality of debate about Iraq? Seems to me there wasn't any room for debate according to Bush(You're either with us or against us). But now that his ratings have fallen off a cliff he wants to build a consensus.


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EXACTLY! Bush was wrong initially. He was deservedly criticized by many people. This led to political pressure which has forced him to change his position and accept that there is more subtlety to the matter and that a consensus approach to Iraq is better than listening to only half of the ideas out there. It's a shame that he took so long to get to this point, but at least he's finally willing to listen (or at least getting there).

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Give me a break.

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This isn't about Bush and whether he's a good person or not. It's about having the chief executive make the best decisions for America. He has not, in my opinion, succeeded at this when it comes to Iraq (and I don't really care to dwell on why any more than is necessary). He is now showing a willingness to change his tune and I think his policies are getting better, but are still flawed. Rather than dwell on his past mistakes to try to let out my frustration or feel smug about myself, I want to acknowledge what I think is right and explain what I think is still wrong.

But that's just me, and one of the main reasons I am becoming as disillusioned with the "left" in this country as I am with the "right." The world is a lot more complex and policy decisions are a lot harder than moveon.org and powerlineblog.com would have you believe.