White House spokesman Tony Snow tried to tamp down expectations about this week’s report to Congress on the Iraq troop surge, calling it a “snapshot of the beginning of the retooling of the mission in Iraq.” But as our editorial argued today, the only beginning many lawmakers and citizens seek is the beginning of the end for U.S. involvement in Iraq: “America’s patience has worn thin on a mission that seems to chase ever-changing, unrealistic goals.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s a new era. No more slapping your forehead Sunday because you forgot to buy a bottle of wine or beer on Saturday for that Sunday dinner party or barbecue. Wichita’s first-ever Sunday sales of spirits last weekend drew lines of people at some liquor stores, suggesting that Wichitans will make Sunday sales profitable for liquor retailers who choose to participate. “This is very convenient,” said one customer. And that was the point of the change.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Two interesting items about the White House communications gurus past and present:
Asked by GQ magazine where “there was a failure to communicate” regarding the war, former communications czar Dan Bartlett said “there was never a more benign incident that turned into a bigger messaging problem than ‘Mission Accomplished”’ — the banner bearing the mission motto of the U.S.S. Lincoln, which became the backdrop for the president’s May 1, 2003, speech aboard the carrier. “It set the wrong tone for what became a protracted, difficult mission. If there was ever a do-over, that would be it.”
Discussing the timing of President Bush’s commutation of “Scooter” Libby’s sentence Sunday on Fox News, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard said that the White House knew Bill Clinton would be campaigning with Hillary Clinton in Iowa on July Fourth. He said Ed Gillespie, the new White House communications czar, suggested the commutation’s timing, accurately predicting the Clintons would take the bait and, in the process, spark days of debate about the Clinton pardons.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Congratulations to the Wichita area workers who had a hand in Sunday’s exciting rollout of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner in Everett, Wash. The moment was all the sweeter because of the 787’s enthusiastic reception by the marketplace, with 677 orders so far. “Being a part of that team is an important thing for us,” said Jeff Turner, chief executive and president of Spirit AeroSystems, the Wichita company building the 787’s forward fuselage and pylons. It’s also crucial for Wichita, reaffirming that its Air Capital status is living as well as historical.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Monday’s “burial” of the N-word at the NAACP’s annual convention in Detroit was great symbolism. A pine box under ground makes a fitting resting place for a slur that has caused so much hurt for so many over the past century. Still, the word won’t be dead until it’s unheard in comedy routines, hip-hop lyrics and on the streets. And there are many other offensive words still in use. As Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said, “We have to bury the ‘pimps’ and the ‘hos’ that go with it.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan says she will run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., unless the speaker files articles of impeachment against President Bush by July 23. So it sounds like Sheehan will be running against Pelosi.
And whatever happened to Sheehan’s plan, announced way back on Memorial Day, to step down as the face of the anti-war movement?
Posted by Rhonda Holman