Buck, what's hilarious here is the complete quantum shift. You don't remember the month after month of criticism about our people being hunkered down in "Green Zones" while the insurgency had the run of the country?

The specific COIN tactics are not new to the surge, but they are new as a specific general policy. Petraeus had success with them in a few local areas, and some local troops had success with them elsewhere.

You're trying desperately to salvage some BDS meat out of this. It isn't working, and it's not going to help Democrats get elected next year.

To break it down to primary colors:

--The Democrats spent years screaming for a "change in strategy." By this they meant only "unconditional surrender," but the term "change in strategy" was fuzzy enough to cover their tracks for their dimmer constituents.

--A change in strategy--a change in course--was actually delivered this year.

--Military leadership was changed across the board, and a major alteration in how the war was fought took place.

--Democrats in Washington fought this tooth and nail, which should have revealed their true motivations and their actual definition of "changing course" to even their dimmest constituents.

--The strategy appears to be working, something even the reluctant mainstream media is picking up. Leftists are casting around in a dozen different directions to try and find causes for this other than the obvious, but not having a lot of luck in convincing anyone except themselves.

--The Democrats in Washington are still trying to force a surrender, even while I write this. You tell me what that indicates.

Go ahead. Declare Bush to be the worst President in the Sagitarrius Arm. The worst President in not only our history, but the history of every parallel universe detectable by our instruments. Let the primal scream all hang out.

Now, tell me how that changes what's happening right now. Tell me how that changes the political consequences for a Democratic party still stuck firmly on forcing defeat, and that seemingly would cheerfully see half the planet burn if it meant Bush burned with it.