Tired Rhetoric

President Bush (finally) gave a compelling speech yesterday outlining in broad terms what critics on the left say they want: an exit strategy for the Iraq conflict. That strategy can be summed up in a single word: victory. He refused to give the the Democrats (and, presumably, the terrorists that U.S. troops are fighting) a timetable for withdrawal.

Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, dismissed the speech as simply more "tired rhetoric." With all the Democrats' talk of "quagmires" and "misleading us into war," I think we had better take this criticism seriously. They are the masters of tired rhetoric, after all.