WurfWhile

The problem with playing a game of “gotcha” instead of arguing substance is that gotcha is equal opportunity. Slamming John Kerry as a “flip-flopper” instead of arguing substance has now made Bush’s poorly chosen, nuanced words on terror a prime candidate for arguing that he “flip-flops” too. And the Democrats plan to press the advantage.

First, on Monday night, Bush told an unpleasant truth about terrorism, that it is not strictly speaking something one can “win,” as in a war, although you can largely prevent it. His unfortunate wording:

“I don’t think you can win it but I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.”

Then, on Tuesday, Bush became terrified of the political consequences of his ungainly attempt at the truth and told the American Legion:

“We may never sit down at a peace table, but make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win.”

“We will win by staying on the offensive, we will win by spreading liberty.”

Of course it is hard to say “we’re winning” with what we’ve done in Iraq, which now has many terrorists where it pretty much had none. It doesn’t help that our Iraq invasion has spurred on Al Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Bush did, however, glean one important lesson from his change Monday to Tuesday, saying, “I probably needed to be more articulate.” It’s a great aspiration, and a good start, George.