War Is Peace

"He typically then says he 'strongly disagrees' -- conveniently knocking down a straw man of his own making.

"Bush routinely is criticized for dressing up events with a too-rosy glow. But experts in political speech say the straw man device, in which the president makes himself appear entirely reasonable by contrast to supposed 'critics,' is just as problematic."

Just search the White House Web site for those phrases, and you'll find wonderful examples of Bush's straw-man use of " some people say ," " some say " and " some people in Washington ."

The Daily Buzz Word

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As for today, Nedra Pickler writes for the Associated Press: "Progress is the buzzword at the White House as Bush headlines a campaign tied to the war's anniversary to buck up public support of the mission."

Yesterday's PR Blitz

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David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker write in the New York Times: "Displaying a carefully calibrated mix of optimism about eventual victory and caution about how long American troops would be involved, the officials who marked the day -- including Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld -- sounded much as they had on the first anniversary of the invasion. At that time, the rebuilding effort had just begun, the insurgency was far less fierce, and the American occupation had suppressed, temporarily, the sectarian violence scarring Iraq today."

Cheney Live

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Cheney held an unusual live interview yesterday morning with CBS News's Bob Schieffer. Here's the transcript .

Cheney said he intends to serve out the rest of his term and denied that any major White House staff shake-up was in the works.

Under repeated questioning from Schieffer, Cheney refused to disavow any of his now-discredited previous statements about the war.

Schieffer: "Mr. Vice President, all along the government has been very optimistic. You remain optimistic. But I remember when you were saying we'd be greeted as liberators. You played down the insurgency. Ten months ago, you said it was in its last throes. Do you believe that these optimistic statements may be one of the reasons that people seem to be more skeptical in this country about whether we ought to be in Iraq?"

Cheney: "No."

In fact, Cheney's optimism just continues. Apparently, now they're in their last throes for real: "Clearly, there is an attempt underway by the terrorists, by Zarqawi and others to foment civil war. That's been their strategy all along. But my view would be they've reached a stage of desperation from their standpoint."

Cheney asserted that no state of civil war exists in Iraq. But in Cheney's view, all the bad actors are terrorists. In fact, I'm not sure he's ever publicly acknowledged the increasingly sectarian nature of some, if not most, of the violence.