Bush the Hypocrite, Part MCLXXXVIII

Think Progress has the get on Bush's hypocrisy about an exit strategy (a term Republicans have excised from their lexicon) and on a timetable for withdrawal.

George W. Bush, 4/9/99, Houston Chronicle:

“Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”

And on the specific need for a timetable:

George W. Bush, 6/5/99, Scripps Howard/Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

“I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”

I would caution though that the central issue in the debate between Bush & Congressional Democrats, an issue the media keeps losing sight of, is not timetables per se but the policy issue of withdrawing versus staying.

Given Bush's intent to stay and refusal to even draft a plan for withdrawal, Congress, through its funding power, can only force the withdrawal issue through timetables.

The media needs to raise the question on whether we should be working on withdrawing (if so, support the Democrats) or whether we should be staying until some yet-to-be defined victory (if so, support Bush).