Quotes of the Morning: Second Verse, Same as the First

“During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work?
The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. ‘I'm a Marine,’ Pace told them, ‘and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory.’
Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration's position, Gov. Philip N. Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. ‘Plan B was to make Plan A work.’"
-Washington Post, March 5, 2007

“Oh come on.. There must be a Plan B somewhere..”
-Skippy

“Presidential press secretary Tony Snow, was asked Monday about a front-page story in The Washington Post about an appearance by Bush and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, during the weekend. The story said the administration lacked ‘a Plan B for the Baghdad security plan,’ and the questioner asked, ‘Is there a plan B?’
Snow quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying that ‘the real secret right now is making Plan A work’ and said: ‘Plan A is barely under way, Snow said. The idea that the administration would talk freely about a Plan B is — it's silly.’
He said, ‘We have seen encouraging signs, but there's a lot of work yet to do. And before people start casting about for Plan B, Plan A first has to be implemented.’"
-Associated Press, March 5, 2007

‘See? It’s there. You just can’t see it. Just like ghosts. Nothing to worry about. Heck, we probably won’t even need to come up with a Plan B.”
-Skippy

“[U.S. Sen. Gordon ]Smith said he recently spoke with Gen. David Petraeus, the new top military commander in Iraq, who told him the troop surge has only a one in four chance of succeeding.
-The Oregonian, March 3, 2007

“’The ultimate Plan B is pull everybody out,’ said Stephen D. Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser to the Defense Department. ‘Nobody wants to do that. Most are looking at the middle ground between surge and pullout.’"
-Washington Post, March 5, 2007

“Hmm.. We need a plan that doesn’t require adding (surge) or subtracting (pullout) any troops from the current troop levels in Iraq. Hmm.. What could we call such an audacious plan?”
-Skippy

“HANNITY: A lot of debate has no emerged over the phrase ‘stay the course,’ and what that actually means. ‘Well, the President is backing away from staying the course.’
RUMSFELD: Aww, that’s nonsense.
HANNITY: He’s not backing away from staying the course?
RUMSFELD: Of course not. The concern was that it gave opponents the chance to say, ‘Well, he’s not willing to make adjustments,’ and of course, just the opposite is true.”
-Interview with Sean Hannity and Donald Rumsfeld, October 24, 2006

“That sounds about right.. If adding troops fails our back-up plan can always be to just leave the troops there until the enemy is tired of attacking them. That will work.”
-Skippy

“We’re not going to lose in Iraq. As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 11, 2006

"This conflict is a long way from over. It's going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we stay the course."
-Vice-President Richard ‘Dick’ Cheney, July 21, 2006

“U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he plans to ‘stay the course’ in Iraq after the outgoing British envoy to the country warned that it is more likely to descend into civil war than form a successful democracy.”
-Bloomberg News Service, August 3, 2006

“Hey! Tony Blair can’t say things like that! He’s not staying. He’s leaving! He listened to his constituents! He gave up! Now he won’t get to share in our ultimate victory over the evil-doers. Poor guy.”
-Skippy