What a difference four years make. Bush and Rove probably figured that by now, this would be a national holiday with glowing commemorations of Bush's triumphant speech on the aircraft carrier. Instead, it's a stark reminder of how George Bush lied to the American people -- and how the traditional media fell for his stunts.
Fortunately, there is some sanity on one end of Pennsylvania Avenue this year:
Democratic leaders in Congress are planning a special ceremony on Tuesday afternoon to send President Bush a bill that sets timetables for troop withdrawal from Iraq.This isn't about theater. It's about a war that Bush started without a plan. It's about a war where over 3,000 U.S. soldiers died after George Bush said major combat operations were over (only 139 American troops had been killed by "Mission Accomplished" day). We've seen plenty of Bush's theatrics. We need to see some rational thinking and a plan to end the war. Bush and his team should put as much time in to thinking about ending the war as they put in to the theatrics and politics of the war.
The timing is no accident. It comes on the fourth anniversary of the day Mr. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under the banner “Mission Accomplished” and declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.
The Democrats’ ceremony, featuring the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is part of the elaborate political theater at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue surrounding the Iraq spending bill, which is destined to produce only the second veto of Mr. Bush’s presidency.
But with Mr. Bush planning to spend Tuesday in Florida talking with military commanders, the White House was being coy on Monday about what kind of theatrics of his own — if any — he might stage. Democrats, however, said they expected the veto to come Wednesday.
