Straying from the Course

This Post Article is priceless for so many reasons. President Bush is abandoning the rhetoric of "Stay the Course" as in "We have to stay the course in Iraq." This, of course, is just par for the course for this administration.

The president has shifted language on Iraq before. At a news conference in August, he returned to his prewar argument that Saddam Hussein harbored terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Hussein "had relations with Zarqawi," Bush said. Weeks later, the Senate intelligence committee concluded that Hussein "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye to Zarqawi" and that the U.S. government knew that before the invasion. At his next news conference, Bush was asked about that. "I never said there was an operational relationship," he said.

"I never had *operational* relations with that man, Mr. Zarqawi."-Saddam Hussein.

"Stay the course" has worked well for Bush in the past, but now a new course of action in political rhetoric is needed.

Bush used "stay the course" until recent weeks when it became clear that it was becoming a political problem. "The characterization of, you know, 'it's stay the course' is about a quarter right," Bush complained at an Oct. 11 news conference. " 'Stay the course' means keep doing what you're doing. My attitude is: Don't do what you're doing if it's not working -- change. 'Stay the course' also means don't leave before the job is done."

It's a lot funnier if you imagine David Brent saying it, with appropriate hand gestures. In fact, David Brent would make a great press secretary for President Bush. The internal contradictions, the non-sensical analogies, the misinterpretation of historical comparisions...it's a perfect fit.

In the dinner of the political sloganeering, "stay the course" has been the main course for Republicans for 3 years. While easy to make and filling, it has begun giving people indigestion. It is time for a new recipe.