UPDATE: Did Lugar plagiarize the Huffington Post? Just seems odd that the Huff Post wrote about the "draw play" analogy a week ago, and today it pops up in the Washington Post as Lugar's original idea.
Republican Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) on the Bush escalation plan in Iraq:
Some commentators have compared the Bush plan to a "Hail Mary" pass in football -- a desperate heave deep down the field by a losing team at the end of the game. Actually, a far better analogy for the Bush plan is a draw play on third down with 20 yards to go in the first quarter. The play does have a chance of working if everything goes perfectly, but it is more likely to gain a few yards and set up a punt on the next down, after which the game can be continued under more favorable circumstances.Why didn't you say so in the first place?
PS What exactly does Lugar mean that we're going to be "punting" soon in Iraq, and apparently with his approval? Short of a withdrawal, what else could he possibly mean?
Update from AJ: If Senator Lugar is going to rip off AMERICAblog by bashing the "Hail Mary" comparisons, he should at least give us credit. Although his analogy, too, is asinine: the escalation is not going to "gain a few yards," metaphorically speaking. More importantly, though, a draw play isn't likely to, y'know, kill people. The escalation will.
