Hopes And Dreams And Ponies And Lollypops

Joe Klein of Time magazine has started blogging at their Swampland blog. It only took one day for Klein to attack the Left, of which he purports to belong to, of hoping that America loses the war in Iraq because we are very much against the escalation of the war. From Swampland:

But it's possible to have been against the war and to hope for the best in Iraq. I'd bet that the overwhelming majority of Americans who now oppose the war are praying for a turn for the better in Iraq. Listening to the leftists, though, it's easy to assume that they are rooting for an American failure. And so a challenge to those who slagged me in their comments. Can you honestly say the following:

Even though I disagree with this escalation, I am hoping that General Petraeus succeeds in calming down Baghdad.

Does the thought even cross your mind? As for me, it's easy--I've been rooting for U.S. success ever since the invasion because, after the overpowering arrogance and stupidity that led to this disaster, we owe some peace and stability to the Iraqis and the region. For the record, I'm outraged Bush is ignoring the election results and the reality on the ground in Iraq. I think he is sending more young American lives into an impossible situation. I am fairly certain that Bush will wallow amongst our worst presidents for getting us into this mess. But I hope events prove me wrong. I don't even care if Bush gets credit for the "victory" and smirks all the way back to Texas.

This is a fine example of the standard boilerplate language of liberals who are "serious" about national security. Failure to go along with every American projection of power whether ill-advised or not is seen as proof that you are "unserious."

And so it goes, Klein will wade into the surge, not because he thinks it will work, but because he has hope. Fine, in for a dime, in for a dollar.

But let me tell you about hope. I, too, hope that we manage to bring some sort of peaceful resolution to the current conflict. I also hope that I win the Mega Millions tonight. In fact, I'm hoping harder than I've ever hoped before. I'm hoping so damn hard that I might go out tonight and "surge" by buying 20,000 more tickets. Then again, maybe that's just foolish.