In a National Review Online symposium Friday, Victor Davis Hanson writes:

Where are we? A frantic half-year race lies ahead to stabilize the country and curtail radically American losses. Soon the election-cycle really kicks in and there will have to be more accomplished than the present improvement to keep Republicans from bailing. Gen. Petraeus cannot keep testifying and President Bush can’t keep giving periodic reports; news from Iraq instead will adjudicate. We are on the cusp of 1973-4 — a one-time chance, after a long ordeal, to win a critical victory, but at precisely the time the public is weary and the opposition most shrill.

Take a few minutes and read his full comment and the others there.

This is from an editorial in today’s Washington Times:

The Washington Post reported yesterday that after Gen. Petraeus proposed withdrawing upwards of 20,000 troops last week, some congressional Democrats thought it was a good thing and attempted to take credit for this “success.” But when House Democratic leaders convened in Mrs. Pelosi’s office one week ago today, strategists concluded that “voters” (i.e., MoveOn.org) didn’t think the cuts went far enough. So, Mrs. Pelosi decreed that the new Democratic Party message would be that Petraeus’s plan meant 10 more years of war, or even “endless war.” Either her spin doctors are giving The Post false information, or Mrs. Pelosi really believes that Gen. Petraeus (and not the terrorists) is to blame if violence continues in Iraq.

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