Funny the difference a year can make.
Today
President Bush said Wednesday he didn't expect to receive domestic universal support for his decision to invade Iraq and said failure there "is not an option."
...
"I fully recognize that the Iraqis must step up and form a unity government so that those who went to the polls will recognize" that they'll have a government that responds to their needs, he said.
"We understand very well that the political process in Iraq must occur very soon," the president added. "I don't expect everybody to agree with my decision to go into Iraq. But I want the American people to understand that failure in Iraq is not an option" and that success there will "begin to lay the foundation for a peace" that will last for generations.
The way I remember his pitch was that Americans were scared, Americans all felt Saddam poised an imminent threat, and that all Americans were united in terms of invading Iraq. Or was that Afghanistan? Somewhere in the blur of cherry-picked intelligence, I seemed to have forgotten who was responsible for attacking us and where he went.
One year ago, Bush sang something of a different tune.
The US electorate effectively expressed its support for the war on Iraq by re-electing George W. Bush to a second term as president, Bush said, calling the election an "accountability moment" for mistakes and misjudgments in the justification and execution of the war.
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"Well, we had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 election," Bush said. "And the American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and they chose me, for which I'm grateful."
Mr. President! Mr. President! One question if I may...
...still grateful?
And for added shits and giggles, I'll throw this up here as well.
Jan. 23, 2003
Jan. 23--WASHINGTON--Even as new polls show public nervousness over a U.S. confrontation with Iraq, White House political adviser Karl Rove Wednesday predicted "the support will be there" if the president makes the case for military action.
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We already know the president doesn't read the news or pay attention to the polls, or anything, but he
does pay attention to Karl Rove. Given Rove's earlier statements, and the ongoing decline in American support for continued military action in Iraq, would it be fair, Mr. Rove, to say that Mr. Bush has
not provided adequate results that would have secured the case, at this point, for military action?
Yeah, I didn't think so either...