Finally, a description of what the administration itself believes has been the goal in Falluja:
“What we’re trying to do is extricate ourselves from Fallujah,” said a senior U.S. official familiar with U.S. strategy who would speak only on the condition of anonymity. “There’s overwhelming pressure with the Coalition Provisional Authority and the White House to deliver a successful Iraq transition, and Iraq is proving uncooperative.”
So the initial goal of removing the insurgents has been abandoned. Meanwhile, the president says: “My resolve is firm. This is an historic moment. The world watches for weakness in our resolve. They will see no weakness. We will answer every challenge.” So is the president telling the truth or is the anonymous “senior administration official”? Or has the administration official declined to inform the president?
IN BOSTON: I’m in Boston today (arrived yesterday). It was fascinating to observe the impact of Monday’s marriage moment. For the most part, it was celebratory. Polls are showing increasing support for equal marriage rights and sliding approval for governor Mitt Romney. The conservative Boston Herald didn’t even put the story on its front page. The major goal of the anti-marriage rights lobby was to provoke hysteria and backlash from the images of weddings for gay couples. But, in fact, the mainstream response has been either positive or neutral. Most people rightly fail to see how these couples’ committing to one another hurts anyone else. And if it doesn’t harm anyone, and brings such joy to so many, why stop it? That’s a powerful argument in a liberal society. Even conservative media were muted:
With neither candidate eager to join the debate, the weddings did not trigger an immediate “culture war” debate among editorial writers or pundits. The CNN “Crossfire” crew sparred over the topic Monday, but not before discussing the Iraqi prisoner scandal, potential running mates for Kerry, and other political matters. Bill O’Reilly tackled the matter on Fox News Channel but waited until the third segment of his show to do so.
Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers magazine, monitored conservative-dominated talk radio’s reaction to same-sex weddings and said the topic did not burn up the phone lines. Gay marriage “is still not a big emotional topic,” he said. “It’s not a hot, heated topic. It’s not life and death; it doesn’t affect the economy. . . . I find a lot of conservatives saying, ‘I can’t get too excited about this; my brother’s gay.’ It crosses a lot of lines.”
You can say that again.
The Dish 