As many around the blogosphere have noted, yesterday was the one year anniversary of Dick Cheney’s appearance on Larry King Live when he declared of the insurgency in Iraq:
“The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.”
Oops. Of course, this is the same administration that more than 2 years earlier declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. And the same administration that 3 1/2 years earlier declared that Gen. Shinseki’s estimates of 250,000 troops and a hundred billion dollars to execute the war were “wildly off the mark” and promptly mothballed him for flagrantly and wantonly telling the truth while under oath (as if this president is going to tolerate that!). And the same administration that predicted that the Iraqis would throw roses at our feet and that there would be no problem with any insurgency. And the same administration that said we knew right where those WMDs were.
At this point, the Vegas casinos really should consider getting into the futures business and giving odds against whatever the White House predicts. Remember back in the mid-80s when that whole brouhaha started over Reagan consulting with astrologer Joan Quigley? I say it’s time to bring her back, maybe even with a cabinet position. At least that way, there’s a slim chance something the White House predicts might come true; and slim is better than none.