Wind direction

UPDATE: change of venue to www.julescrittenden.com. Come check out the new site.


Great news for those who like to govern by poll. USA Today: Americans 'more pessimistic' after Bush's Iraq speech.

"President Bush's address to the nation last week outlining a 'new way forward' in Iraq failed to move public opinion in support of his plan to increase U.S. troop levels and left Americans more pessimistic about the likely outcome of the war," USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page writes this afternoon.

She adds that "in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, more than 6 of 10 back the idea of a non-binding congressional resolution expressing opposition to Bush's plan to commit an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq."

• 47% said it is "certain" or "likely" the U.S. will "win" in Iraq, vs. 50% who said that before Bush's speech.

• 49% said it is "unlikely" the U.S. will win or "certain" it will not, vs. 46% who said that before Bush's speech.

• 29% said the president does have a "clear plan" for handling the situation in Iraq, vs. 25% who said that before the speech.

• 69% said the president does not have a "clear plan," vs. 72% who said that before the speech.

So Americans responding to whatever kind of questions USA Today put in front of them don't like Bush's plan. Why would they? They're on an intravenous "abandon all hope" drip, with tsking docs around the deathbed offering up disaster prognoses.

• 21% said Democrats in Congress have a "clear plan" for Iraq, vs. 25% who said that before the speech.

• 75% said Democrats in Congress do not have a "clear plan" for Iraq, vs. 66% who said that before the speech.

OK. More people think Bush has a clear plan now than before the speech, and fewer people think Congress does. But what Democratic plan is that 21 percent talking about?

There are also a couple of questions they apparently forgot to ask.

If the United States follows the Democratic plan for Iraq, do you believe:

(a) Iraq will descend into greater chaos and violence, destabilizing the entire region.

(b) Iraq will return to the Eden-like state of peace and security enjoyed under Saddam Hussein, destabilizing the entire region.

(c) Don't give a damn.

Post-abandonment, Iran will:

(a) see the error of its ways, stop sponsoring violence in Iraq and Lebanon and abandon its nuclear weapons program.

(b) launch a large-scale bloodbath in Iraq, install a Shiite puppet, effectively control a large share of the world's oil supply and menace the region with its nuclear weapons.

(c) don't give a damn.

Chicago Boyz on sports vs. news reporting:

"A reporter who consistently attempted to sabotage the local team’s game plans would quickly be looking for work in a different discipline. Fans have too much invested in their teams to let that kind of behaviour continue.

Thus my broader view for the day — America will get the MSM it wants when America takes its national security as seriously as its football."

Don Surber on the UN's Iraqi death estimate. And other stuff.