Famous Last Words

Jason Zengerle today:

Worst op-ed of the (admittedly still young) year? Liz Cheney's Hannity-esque effort on Iraq in today's WaPo. It's a really thing of wonder.

And it really is a sucky op-ed. That said, I'm not sure how it differs in substance from what I believe is The New Republic's most recent editorial on Iraq from November just after the election:

Many Democrats have embraced a proposal called "phased redeployment," a politically expedient way of saying immediate withdrawal. Their proposal, which calls for departures beginning in four to six months, doesn't allow the time and space for the arduous work that a political settlement requires--the kind of agreement that will ultimately allow us to leave with the least damage to the Iraqi people and our own interests. Proponents of "redeployment" might argue that the president will enact any new course as ineptly as he did before--a very reasonable fear. But, having achieved new majorities, the Democrats must use their oversight capability to ensure that this does not happen. This can no longer be a one-party war.

Obviously, this is written with a more TNR-style sneer than a Hannity-style one, and those are different brands of sneer. The substantive points, however, strike me as very similar. And more important, the policy objective -- supporting Bush and his open-ended military commitment to Iraq -- are actually identical.