Potemkin study group

The Bush administration has stopped even trying to be coherent.

When the White House review began, the interagency group debated whether to try to beat the Iraqi Study Group's report or let it play out and then look "bigger and better" by doing a report later, said an official familiar with the discussions. It was agreed to wait. But the emphasis throughout the month-long process has been to produce a strategy that would be deliberately distinct, the official added.

The White House review does not have the depth or scope of the Iraq Study Group's, according to officials familiar with the deliberations. "There's a lack of thinking on other big issues -- oil, the economy, infrastructure and jobs," said one source who was briefed on the interagency discussions and requested anonymity because talks are ongoing.

During yesterday's White House meeting, Bush asked all the questions, except for one at the end from Cheney, a source said. But Cheney took copious notes throughout, filling several pages, he said. "They didn't really reveal their own views" in their questions, said retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, one of the five participants.

As a whole, the group of retired generals and academics who met Bush tend to be skeptical of the Iraq Study Group's proposals, and so were able to give him additional reasons to reject its recommendations.

That whole, "New way forward" should be comprehensive. This is criminal. Their goal is to produce something "distinct" from the ISG's recommendations. Not effective. Just "distinct."

How much you wanna bet that when Bush makes his "major address" on Iraq, he reveals that his new strategy in Iraq is....VICTORY!

While they focus on appearances, the American people have long since pulled back the curtain on these malicious fools.

In a new Post-ABC News poll, seven in 10 Americans disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation in Iraq -- the highest percentage since the March 2003 invasion. Six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting.

I doubt the latest cunning plan for winning the war against fascislamoextremists is going to halt that plummet.