A splendid spanking

The ISG report stunned many of us who believed they would go soft on Mr. Bush, especially right on the heels of Bob Gates confirmation hearing in which he stated, point blank, that we are not winning the war.

Not that everyone who has more than three neurons firing didn't already know that.

p m carpenter's commentary: A splendid spanking:

Quite aside from the wisdom or folly of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations, and quite aside from how much, if at all, those recommendations are executed by the White House, I must admit the ISG did a bang-up job of first lowering expectations and then impressing a resigned public with its sweeping breadth -- and severity.

Watching the panel's televised Q&A session after the report's release, I was stunned -- and not alone, I'm sure -- to hear its bipartisan membership publicly condemn Mr. Bush's war management as 'a nightmare' equivalent to Saddam Hussein's atrociousness.