Do you remember Armstrong Williams?
Armstrong Williams says the $34,000 he will repay to the U.S. government is a small price to pay to put a 2-year-old punditry scandal behind him.
"I will gladly pay," said Williams, a conservative commentator whose 2003 deal to promote President Bush's education agenda spawned a governmentwide crackdown on propaganda and a Justice Department probe.
Williams' support of Bush policies has dissappeared and been replaced with despair:
I strongly supported President Bush when he declared war on Iraq and sought regime change there once and for all. I adamantly defended President Bush when he outlined his post-Saddam Hussein plan to stabilize Iraq and rebuild it as a free and democratic country. I staunchly backed our President when he asked the country for patience and Congress for more money to win the war. But after last week’s speech in which he laid out plans to send in another 21,500 US troops to Baghdad, my support stopped.
The surge claims another victim...
That above quote is from March; the column it was a part of includes this:
There is no reason to believe that the President’s latest plan will work. We’ve been imbedded in Iraq for years now, and noticeable progress there is hard to find. Most people believe the country is in the midst of a civil war, with sectarian violence raging everyday. Of course, there's always hope that this plan will work, especially from soldiers following the lead of the President. Young officers are willing to risk their lives for this fight, but based on what they’re seeing, they believe victory is out of reach. If an infantryman isn't complaining, then you know something is wrong. Some of these men and women are on their third or fourth tour of duty. These extensions breach the promise they were given by their Commander in Chief and our military. And you cannot discount morale in wars, even in this day and age. Our soldiers cannot have the same motivation as our enemy’s, who has nothing to live for except this fight.
That could have been published on dKos. But this column was published on Townhall, home if the Cowardly Lion, Hugh Hewitt, and a host of other Bush cultists. Don't worry, Armstrong plays to the cultists by praising Bush's resolve later in the column (he damn near bought himself some dignity back but blew it with the blatant sucking up.)
Okay, so that's January 22. Here's the March 22 column, this time published in NewsMax!:
A Case for Withdrawal From Iraq
Armstrong Williams
Thursday, March 22, 2007
As I sat down to listen to our president speak to the nation on the fourth anniversary of the official start of the Iraq war, I kept an open mind.
I listened with respect as he asked us to be patient and reminded us that the troop surge in Baghdad "will take months, not days or weeks" to create stability. I watched his serious face and sad eyes as he admitted that there will continue to be "bad days ahead." And after his speech I honestly considered his ideas and how they will affect the current situation in Iraq and future stability of the world.
For in the past, I have given my utmost trust to our president and his administration. Sadly many promises have not been fulfilled (and I'm not just talking about the failed Iraq war).
Remember his emphatic "Mission accomplished!" speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln?
Remember his call to "Bring ‘em on!" and the long-time denial about the truth in Iraq?
Remember Vice President Cheney's original prediction that the war would only last a few months, then later predicting it was in its "last throes," and currently claiming that Britain's recent withdrawal was a positive sign?
All of these statements led the country to begin losing faith in the administration's handling of the war. Hence, we have seen our president's approval ratings fall and continue to fall over the years.
We've seen the American people completely call for change with the election of a Democratic House and Senate, and at the local level putting the majority of governors' mansions and state legislatures in the hands of Democrats. And if our president and his staff aren't careful with their statements and strategies about Iraq, they will all but lock up the Democrat's return to Oval Office in 2009.
So after an hour or so of deliberation about the war, I asked myself one simple — albeit difficult — question: Will American troops and civilians be safer if we stay in Iraq indefinitely, or withdraw over the next year? And the answer I came to was also very simple — albeit difficult to admit and enact: Less Americans will die, suffer, and/or become injured if we begin withdrawing from Iraq by 2009.
Now 2009! That's too late. But Armstrong Williams has in the three short months turned from koolaid drinker to doubter to calling for withdrawal.
I find this public reversal, printed in the most conservative of publications stunning. A public rebuke of Dear Leader by one of this paid toadies, an acknowledgement that Bush's leadership has cost the GOP dearly and that VP Shooter is nothing but a fool; if the circumstances weren't so sad I'd be laughing my ass off at the delicious smell of BushCo's rhetorical rump roasting.