What’s the Point? » Win By Adapting

On the Rachel Maddow Show this morning, Rachel highlighted a new Republican slogan that I’d missed…

Ken Mehlman, appearing on Meet the Press this Sunday, had this to say to David Gregory.

MR. MEHLMAN: Look, the fact is that our mission in the war in Iraq is critical. We agree on that; we agree it’s wrong to cut and run. But look, we’re not coming in and saying “Stay the course.” The choice in this election is not between “Stay the course” and “Cut and run,” it’s between “Win by adapting” and “Cut and run.”

Let me tell you what we’re doing. The fact is, before the successful Iraqi elections, the number of troops went up from 137,000 to 167,000. That’s adapting to win. Recently, the increased troops in Baghdad, adapting to win. We changed how the training of Iraqi forces occurred to involve more Iraqis.

That’s adapting to win.

Is it possible to be more of a Stepford Spokesman than Ken Mehlman? I sincerely doubt it.

But from the Google search I did this morning, it seems most everybody else has missed this choice bit of shell game theatrics, too.

As of the time of this writing, there are only 14 references to the phrase “win by adapting.” The Angry Bear gets top blog billing for mentioning it on Sunday.

But, the other few references to "win by adapting" were interesting, I thought…

One is a reference to a very sophisticated game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Another is from a very noble high school debate team.

And this reference from the U.S. Army War College’s journal, Parameters, from 2000, was revealing, too. Especially since the Bush administration doesn’t seem to listen to military leaders who’ve spent their whole lives studying these issues.

But, while wisely saying "The only thing the GOP adapts is their spin. Democrats you have been warned, " State of the Day was able to find a little bit more conversation that Google has yet to pick up…

Both Think Progress and Jon Stewart couldn’t resist this oh so easy target.

And here’s the video…