Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Last Chance

One Friedman ago, Pat Buchanan said (on Scarborough):

This is why I`m saying, look, this is the last chance for Maliki, the last chance for the Americans.


The full context for these nutters was:

BUCHANAN: He has said it this time. The last test is right now.

This is why I`m saying, look, this is the last chance for Maliki, the last chance for the Americans. The acid test is whether they go after the Mahdi army, which I think knows we will go after them. And that`s why I think it may very well run to earth for the next six months.

SCARBOROUGH: We have to -- we have to do that. We have to go after al-Sadr. We have to go after the Mahdi army. And, if we are, in fact, trying to start a democracy over there, and bring justice to Iraq, then, we have to arrest or kill al-Sadr.


Judd Legum, on the same show, provided sanity:

LEGUM: It was really -- it was kind of a letdown. And I predict that, you know, in six months nobody is going to remember this speech. The strategy laid out today won`t have an impact on the situation in Iraq.

And all the people who are on TV today say, "This is the last chance. This is our one last shot. We`ve got to give it a go," are going to be saying again, we need to give it one last chance. I give it a go.