I Don't Like Ike

It was the first political slogan I remember: I like Ike. And I did like him. My parents took me to a parade when he came to visit Key West (Dad was stationed there on a sub), and it was obvious they thought it was a very big deal.

I was reminded of Ike last night when I saw this quote in WaPo, attributed to Ike Skelton, the Dem Armed Services Committee Chair:

"War is never easy and almost never goes according to plan. Al-Qaeda and their supporters in the region have been steadfast. . . . But because they cannot defeat Americans on the battlefield, al-Qaeda and terrorist sympathizers around the world are trying to divide us here at home. Over the next few days we have an opportunity to show our enemies that we will not take the bait."

I read it and re-read it. How could the committee chair, hand-picked by peacenik Pelosi, say something so sensible, so obvious, so true? I figured this morning I would read of his resignation, a sharp knife to his back.

No; different story entirely. It was all the fault of a poor layout at WaPo. The layout for the "Voices from the House Floor" sidebar looked like this:

Speaker name
_______________________

"Blah, blah, blah"

Speaker name
_______________________

"Blah, blah, blah"

The layout geniouses thought we would read speaker name, jump over a line -- always an info break in a newspaper -- to the the quote, and associate it back up to the name. These are the Ivy League geniouses we are supposed to trust to deliver the news.

Once I figured this bit of ineptitude out, I realized the quote in fact came from Minority Leader John Boehner. No wonder it was so good. As for Ike, he said:

"We are here to say [the Iraq policy is] not a good idea. The series of irretrievable mistakes is a serious list: the skewed intelligence; . . . the postwar phase of conflict that did not have sufficient planning; . . . allowing the uncontrolled looting and the breakdown of law early on after the occupation began; the dismissal of the Iraqi army; . . . the de-Baathification that put so many thousands of people . . . out of work. . . . The administration has consistently refused to adjust its overall strategy."

Ah, there's the Dem! Anticipating failure, looking backwards, not claiming one's own errors (accepting the pre-war intelligence), and lying. Yes, lying. The vote before them is about the administration adjusting its strategy; Skelton says the administration refuses to adjust.

I'm no longer dazed and confused. All things back are in their rightful place. Now I can get on with my day.

Related Tags: Iraq, House of Representatives, Democrats, Skelton, Pelosi, Boehner, Foreign Policy