Bush Speech More of The Same -- Again

President Bush just finished his much-anticipated speech on progress in Iraq and, as many of us expected, it was more of the same stay-the-course rhetoric with a smattering of details thrown in to make it look good.

Some quick observations:

• Bush speaks in front of a hand-picked, military audience as usual... This president will never speak before an audience of average, random Americans. Never.

• This is the eighth speech Bush has given in 2005 to try to bolster public support for this war with his main message to the American people can be summed up in a one-word request: Patience. Can you take a hint, Mr. Bush? We overwhelmingly don't believe in you and we're out of patience.

• The president signaled a new GOP talking point by using the phrase "artificial timetables" no fewer than 10 times in the speech. But isn't a timetable only artificial if you make it so?

• Joe Lieberman must go. Any time Bush uses your name and quotes you in a speech of this magnitude to build support for a policy that two-thirds of the country is against, you've seriously lost your way. Can we please come up with a strong Connecticut Democrat to challenge Lieberman when his term expires?

• Bush ended by doing what he does best (or worst): Using the troops for his own political agenda by reading a heartfelt letter of a soldier killed in Iraq to advance his stay-the-course mentality. Once again, Bush's bizarre mantra is that the only way to honor those who have been killed is to have more people die.

• None of this rhetoric matters. Even if Iraqi troops were being trained at the breathtaking pace claimed by Team Bush – which they're not – they will need intelligence and logistics support from the U.S. for years to come. Why? Because we destroyed their military infrastructure – which means they either need to buy a new military or, more likely, Americans will be paying for it by robbing from our children and their children.

• I don't claim to have the largest vocabulary in the world, but I'm pretty sure that the president is inventing new words again. In case this is news to you, our enemies are now "rejectionists" and "Saddamists."

• Note to CNN: Ben Nelson, the Democratic Senator who votes with the Republicans on almost every major issue, is the best you can provide to give the Democrat's point of view on Bush's speech? Are you kidding me? Was Zell Miller booked already? But even Nelson said this: "It's not talking about a timetable but talking about measurable results and I don't hear the president saying that."