In the give credit where credit is due” department, I need to point out some of Bill Mahers statements when he appeared with Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
MAHER: And I said, thats not fair, because, first of all, Im not a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. I have a lot of positions that are conservative. And Ive also been supportive of President Bush now that I think Iraq is turning around.Im one of those liberals who said, you know what? You cant work backwards from, I hate Bush, from everything he does, says and smirks, to, here is another bad thing he did. I said, you know what? This is turning out OK in Iraq. He had a bigger and better idea than the most of us. And you have to give up credit for that.
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…but, on the other hand, this plan with the Middle East, I do think it is taking root. I do think that we may have reached the tipping point and theres no turning back.
And this is the guy who nobody else was looking to do this. Not one other person in America was saying, you know what? After 9/11, we have got to go into Iraq. Its just that he lied to get us there.
Of course, he spends a lot of time hedging his statements, compliementing Bush and then suddenly acting like its sarcasm, stuff like that. And he spends a lot of time with the whole Bush lied” canard that has been beaten to death by now. But however he may try to disguise it, he does admit that things are turning out all right in Iraq, and that Bush had a vision for the future that many other people lacked. Of course, maybe hes just covering his own hide for when things turn out all right in Iraq, so he can say, No, no, I supported Bush!” But I do think that he is giving Bush a fair amount of credit for the good things that have happened with Iraq, and I think it is worth pointing that out.
