Bush Wins Again

And on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann angrily chronicles all the times in the past that the press and the public have been told to "just wait." Crooks and Liars has the transcript.

Steve Benen blogs for the Carpetbagger Report that "by suggesting a drawdown would be possible in January, Petraeus is arguing that nothing at all will change in the administration's Iraq policy for the next four months. The reward, in other words, for failing the benchmark test, is two-thirds of a Friedman and a new spending bill from Congress."

Furthermore, Benen notes: "suggesting that we might be able to bring home one brigade in January seems a little disingenuous when we know that a few months later, the surge has to end anyway because we'll be out of troops."

The Other General

Greg Miller writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The U.S. military should reduce its 'footprint' in Iraq to counter the impression that it is an occupying force, a prominent retired Marine general said Thursday in congressional testimony that challenged the case for continuing the troop increase backed by the White House.

"Just days before the U.S. military commander in Iraq is expected to provide a much more upbeat assessment to Congress, Gen. James L. Jones said the high-profile presence of U.S. troops has engendered animosity among Iraqis, even though the increase has brought some security gains. . . .

"While some of his testimony appeared to bolster the case for a reduced U.S. presence, he cautioned against a swift pullout or setting deadlines for withdrawal.

"'I think deadlines can work against us, and I think a deadline of this magnitude would be against our national interest,' Jones said, alluding to mainly Democratic proposals to set a timetable for the removal of U.S. forces.

"As a result, Jones' testimony provided cover for both Republicans and Democrats in the debate about the course of the war."

Here's the report from Jones and fellow commission members.

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post: "It was, as more than one senator remarked, a case of what you see depending on where you stand. In that sense, Jones, a retired Marine general, served as a Rorschach inkblot for the coming Iraq debate."

Bolten on Petraeus

White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten was on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer Wednesday night.

Lehrer asked how Petraeus became the "magic judger."