corrente

But it can be very very effective. Josh Marshall makes an excellent point:

Here's what I mean.

Recently, President Bush has sought -- with real success -- to edge Iraq out of the campaign dialogue by putting the issue back on to Kerry, asking what he would do differently and how it would produce a better result.

This puts Kerry in a bit of a bind because the politically-unspeakable answer here is that there are no good solutions anymore. A year ago, even six months ago, there were. Now, there really aren't.

President Bush at least has a straightforward approach: denial. Pressed to come up with a soundbite-able and practical policy, Kerry is, well ... hard-pressed.

(As I said, President Bush, in this way, has managed to derive political advantage from the magnitude of his own failure.)

Politically, Kerry needs to ignore the commentators who will press him to come up with a twenty point plan that will immediately rectify the situation in Iraq. Yes, he needs to give an idea of what he'll do if and when he takes over. But the emphasis should be on the undeniable fact that though the way forward may be murky, the last person you want to lead the country down that foggy path is the guy who screwed everything up so badly in the first place.
(via Talking Points Memo)

And speaking of more proof that we're winning, how much oil is Iraq pumping?

The pumping rate is still down to 250,000 barrels a day from the normal average of 400,000 barrels, the official said on condition of anonymity. Exports will go back to normal when the line is fixed, he said.
(via AP)

Not that this would have anything to do with gasoline prices... But let me spin this the other way! Now there's real proof we didn't go to war over oil—we're not getting any!