Banging Heads!

[Annie]

:bangheads

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/

Doesn't Anyone Listen?
John McCain appeared on "Meet the Press" yesterday, and he had this to say about Iraq:

What the American people should have been told, and should be told, and I believe the president is going to tell them, I think he's focusing back on Iraq, I think it's long, it's hard, it's tough. It's very tough.

Hey John, listen up! Here's President Bush in the first debate with John Kerry*, on Sept. 30:

In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. You know why? Because an enemy realizes the stakes. The enemy understands a free Iraq will be a major defeat in their ideology of hatred. That's why they're fighting so vociferously.

And here he is at an Oct. 26 photo-op with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia:

Q: Mr. President, the defense secretary has written a memorandum saying there have been mixed results in the war on terror, that it's going to be a long, hard slog, and no bold steps have been taken yet. Do you agree with that characterization?

Bush: What I agree with is that the war on terror is going to be tough work, and it's going to take a while. . . . We've got work to do. This is a long war on terror.

In today's New York Times, Mario Cuomo, a former New York governor, weighs in against President Bush's threatened veto of legislation funding embryonic stem-cell research. Here's what he thinks Bush should do:

To extricate himself from an untenable position, the president should start by following the successful pattern established in other areas of dealing with the clash of religious and political questions, including the law concerning abortion. . . .

[The president should] employ a panel of respected scientists, humanists and religious leaders to consider testimony from bioscience experts describing when consciousness first appears, when viability outside the womb usually occurs, and how other religions treat the subject. They would then provide their conclusions to lawmakers.

Hey Mario, pay attention! Here's what Bush said in his Aug. 8, 2001, speech announcing his stem-cell compromise:

As I thought through this issue, I kept returning to two fundamental questions: First, are these frozen embryos human life, and therefore, something precious to be protected? And second, if they're going to be destroyed anyway, shouldn't they be used for a greater good, for research that has the potential to save and improve other lives?

I've asked those questions and others of scientists, scholars, bioethicists, religious leaders, doctors, researchers, members of Congress, my Cabinet, and my friends. . . .

I will also name a President's council to monitor stem cell research, to recommend appropriate guidelines and regulations, and to consider all of the medical and ethical ramifications of biomedical innovation. This council will consist of leading scientists, doctors, ethicists, lawyers, theologians and others, and will be chaired by Dr. Leon Kass, a leading biomedical ethicist from the University of Chicago.

There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with the president, but when he talks, shouldn't we at least listen?

* "A European at heart," according to Bernard-Henri Lévy.