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‘Stay the Course’ Bites the Dust
(credit: Grady White/NYT)First it was “Mission Accomplished” accompanied by Bush all decked out in a full flight suit looking fat n’ sassy on a carrier deck. But then it turns out that only the first part of the mission was accomplished (the invasion), but none of the rest was. So we ditched that slogan.
Then when the going got tough and reality in Iraq bit harder than Bush or most Americans expected, it became “Stay the Course.” As if this pseudo-patriotic sounding slogan really stood for anything other than feel-good mumbo-jumbo. But with 95 U.S. soliders killed this month alone, “Stay the Course” isn’t cutting it. So Bush has abandoned it. And if his most recent statements can be believed (NOT!) that was never really his policy anyway. George is turning into the Lothario in Kiss Me Kate who runs rings around the poor girl until she believes the sun is up when it’s not and that it’s night when it’s really day–all because he tells her it is so. What does he take us for, that man?
I think Grady White got it perfectly in this illustration from yesterday’s New York Times Letters section (10/25/06, page A18). The only slogan left is “Cross Your Fingers.” But really, who other than Bush and perhaps a few of his generals believes there is any hope left?
