In 1999, George W. Bush criticized President Clinton for not setting a timetable for exiting Kosovo, and yet he refuses to apply the same standard to his war.
George W. Bush, 4/9/99:
“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, here’s what Bush said then and what he says now:
George W. Bush, 6/5/99
“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it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”
[ed. note: article originally ran in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on 6/5/99]
Of course, that was back when he was trying to burnish his Serious Thinker credentials, and everyone was laughing off the notion of this schmuck even thinking that he had a shot. Consistency has never been Chimpy's strong suit, since it doesn't come with a nifty codpiece and ready-made banner.
As for tonight's desperate cling to fast-decaying shreds of credibility, all I can say is that I hope he's made his peace with whatever god he thinks he believes in. He's running very close to 40-60 approval ratios these days, and since he'll never just go before a crowd of actual reg'lar folks, he once again uses troops as a prop for his meandering nonsense and stubbed-toe oratory. Classy, as always.
I'm sure there were plenty of impromptu drinking games out there (take a drink every time he says "freedom" or "terror", and finish off your entire drink every time he makes up a word or mangles its usage), and I hope everyone got sloshed.
[Thanks to Think Progress commenter pbg for inspiring the post title, dropping some Leonard Cohen there. Nice touch.]
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