Yesterday, General Clark said on Al Franken's show, “I don’t know how many times the WH has said we’ve
‘turned the corner in Iraq.’ I heard it again today. This must be a sixteen-sided building or something – ‘cause we’ve gone around it twice.” A few Google searches revealed some of the "turning," going back years.
11/03,
NY Times Editorial: The American involvement with Iraq appears to have
turned a corner.07/04,
Bush: When it comes to fighting the threats of our world and spreading peace, we're
turning the corner and we're not turning back.
For a time, they retired this phrase.
8/04,
CNN's Dana Bash: President Bush has apparently
turned a corner in his use of what had been a popular refrain in recent campaign stump speeches.
Bush speech drops
'turning the corner'"When it comes to improving America's public schools, we are
turning the corner, and we are not turning back," Bush said during a July 30 stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
"When it comes to spreading the peace, we're
turning a corner, and we're not turning back," he said the next day in Canton, Ohio.
That refrain was repeated on other campaign stops. But this week, the
"turning the corner" line has disappeared from Bush's speech, as Democrats seized on the words to charge that the president was out of touch.
But not for long! We reached a "turning point" just a few months later.
12/04,
Oliver North:And if we are steadfast, years from now, historians will look back and note that the
turning point in the Global War on Terror began with the Battle of Fallujah and ended with the Iraqi elections on Jan. 30, 2005.
1/05,
NY Times: The voters were completely defiant, and there was a feeling that the people of Baghdad, showing a new, positive attitude, had
turned a corner.1/05,
Bush: Tomorrow the world will witness a
turning point in the history of Iraq, a milestone in the advance of freedom, and a crucial advance in the war on terror.
2/05,
Washington Post's David Ignatius: But for the moment, Iraq does seem to have
turned a corner politically.
11/05,
Bush: An Iraqi first lieutenant named Shoqutt describes the transformation of his unit this way: "I really think we've
turned the corner here…”
12/05,
Cheney: And while the level of violence has continued, I do believe that when we look back on this period of time, 2005 will have been the
turning point when, in fact, we made sufficient progress both on the political front and the security front so that we'll see that as the watershed year.
12/05,
Weekly Standard (Kagan and Kristol): "Happy Days!" The Iraqi elections really could be a
turning point. 12/05,
Condoleezza Rice: TONY SNOW: Have the Iraqi people
turned the corner psychologically?
SECRETARY RICE: I believe that they've been
turning the corner psychologically for some time, but yesterday is just a huge affirmation of that.
4/06
Bush:President Bush, traveling in California, also was encouraged that the Iraqis had
turned a corner "on their path to democracy," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
4/06,
Condoleezza Rice: "The
turning point here is that Iraq now has its first permanent government, and that it is a government of national unity, and it gives Iraq a real chance to deal with the real vexing problems that it has faced," she added.
Yesterday:
Bush: He said the decision to name al-Maliki prime minister and to move ahead anew with talks that would bring Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish Iraqis into a unity government "is a
turning point for the Iraqi citizens, and it's a new chapter in our partnership.''
If we keep "turning," we just go in circles. And at some point, "turning" is nothing more than "spinning."
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