The bully, the loser

Faced with incontrovertible facts of increasing costs ($6 billion a month), soldier deaths day after day(2,100), growing disenchantment in Congress (the Senate is demanding periodic reports on how the war is faring), the failure of the Iraqi security forces to protect the country,all  signs of a coming defeat, [Bush] keeps on keeping on with pledges of total victory. He won’t set "artificial deadlines" for withdrawal. "No war has ever been won on a timetable - and neither will this one," the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq says.

"These decisions about troop levels will be driven by the conditions on the ground in Iraq and the good judgment of our commanders, not by artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington," Bush said in his followup address.

Bush's swaggering style reinforces his image and that of the country of being a bully and, worse, a loser.  James Ridgeway in the Village Voice