Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Four Years Ago Today

May 1, 2003: President Bush Announces "Mission Accomplished": "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

And the press went wild drooling over him:

Chris Matthews: "What's the importance of the president's amazing display of leadership tonight"?

Current NBC News Anchor Brian Williams: "Not all presidents could have pulled this scene off today."

PBS's Gwen Ifill: "Picture perfect. Part Spider-Man, part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan. The president seizes the moment on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific."

CNN's Lou Dobbs:
"He looked like an alternatively commander in chief, rock star, movie star, and one of the guys."

CNN'S Judy Woodruff:
"If image is everything, how can the Democratic presidential hopefuls compete with a president fresh from a war victory?"

And my favorite, from syndicated columnist Cal Thomas:
"All of the printed and voiced prophecies should be saved in an archive. When these false prophets again appear, they can be reminded of the error of their previous ways and at least be offered an opportunity to recant and repent. Otherwise, they will return to us in another situation where their expertise will be acknowledged, or taken for granted, but their credibility will be lacking."

I think I'll take you up on that one, Cal.

3 comments:

  1. Oh those are some excellent quotes. I love it when people have a memory that goes back more than three seconds.

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  2. I was listening to NPR this afternoon, and they reported that Dana Perino said when Bush had said "mission accomplished" four years ago, it was mission accomplished for that particular ship: the Abraham Lincoln. Not that the war had been actually "mission accomplished."

    Do they really think they can get away with that??

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  3. That post had me laughing as hard as Tom Tomorrow's recent strip in a similar vein.

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