Quotes of the Morning: The Decider's Infinite Compassion

“Ok.. So the much-heralded meeting between Fearless Leader and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki did manage to take place yesterday. That’s a good thing.. Things are tough in Iraq, especially for al-Maliki. Two months ago our ambassador to Iraq at the time was a little nervous about whether or not al-Maliki could handle the challenge.”
-Skippy

“The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned on Friday that time is running out for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to contain the burgeoning sectarian bloodshed that threatens to plunge the country into civil war.
‘He has a window of a couple months,’ said the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad. ‘If the perception is that this unity government is not able to deal with this issue, then a big opportunity would have been lost and it would take a long time to address this issue.’"
-Washington Post, September 30, 2006

“Well, here it is a couple of months later, and even the news is beginning to call what is happening in Iraq a civil war.”
-Skippy

“Today, as Air Force One was halfway over the Atlantic Ocean, a White House spokesman protested a decision by several American news organizations, including NBC News, to call the violence in Iraq a civil war.
‘While the situation on the ground is very serious, neither Prime Minister Maliki or us (Bush White House) believe that Iraq is in a civil war,’ said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe
However, the U.N. reported last week that an average of 120 Iraqi civilians are getting killed every day. This weekend, the violence in Baghdad claimed the lives of 215 people in one day. Several experts say Iraq reached civil war status months ago. And now, the Los Angeles Times is calling Iraq a civil war and so is NBC News.”
-MSNBC, November 27, 2006

“Baghdad's overflowing morgues have welcomed another grim daily harvest of bullet-riddled corpses as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met US President George W. Bush and vowed to halt the violence.
Iraqi security officials said they had recovered the bodies of 58 murder victims in Baghdad over the previous 24 hours -- a US spokeswoman confirmed 49 -- and that a mass grave holding 28 corpses was found north of the city.
Six civilians were killed in sectarian fighting around Baquba, north of the capital, and two police were killed by insurgents in the western city of Fallujah, police said Thursday.”
-AFP, November 30, 2006

“It doesn’t look good in Iraq, and the White House has been carefully leaking documents putting some of the blame directly on al-Maliki.”
-Skippy

“The White House has avoided saying that Bush would pressure al-Maliki at the meeting to do more to stop the bloodshed. National security adviser Stephen Hadley says the Iraqi prime minister pushes himself — and that Bush will be listening to al-Maliki's ideas, not imposing plans on him.
But in a classified Nov. 8 memo following his Oct. 30 trip to Baghdad, Hadley expressed serious doubts about whether al-Maliki had the capacity to control the sectarian violence in Iraq, and recommended steps to strengthen the Iraqi leader's position, The New York Times reported in Wednesday editions.
‘The reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action,’ the memo said.”
-Associated Press, November 29, 2006

“This sets up a bad scenario for Fearless Leader though.. Now he is dealing with a government official who looks stupid and ignorant (even if his own White House did, in fact, cause the problem). The Decider’s infinite sympathy for the underdog comes into play and there is only one thing he can do.”
-Skippy

"He's [al-Maliki’s] the right guy for Iraq. We're going to help him, and it is in our interest to help him, for the sake of peace. He is a strong leader and wants a free and democratic Iraq to succeed.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, November 30, 2006

“Yep. We need to support him 110%. If there is one thing that Fearless Leader believes in (beyond his mantra ‘We ain’t leavin’ til we’re heavin’) it’s that incompetence is it’s own reward. Just a few more months of civil war and the Decider will be forced to say that al-Maliki is doing a ‘heckuva’ job.”
-Skippy

"I hear the voices. And I read the front page. And I know the speculation. But I'm the decider. And I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 18, 2006

“ Vice President Cheney is a great Vice President. He's done a heck of a good job for our country.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 26, 2004

“Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 2, 2005

“It's good to be in old Tom Ridge's home town. He's a good friend, he's a good man, and he's doing a heck of a good job in reorganizing the Department of Homeland Security.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 4, 2005

“I'm proud to be traveling with the Speaker, Denny Hastert. He's a good, solid American. And he's doing a heck of a job as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 6, 2006