http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/06/11/070611taco_talk_packer

. . . For better or worse, popular memory flattens out the facts. For decades, the Civil Rights Act and Medicare were obliterated from Lyndon Johnson’s record by the glare of napalm. Jimmy Carter is defined by the hostage crisis and a word, “malaise,” that he never uttered. Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet empire. And so on.

George W. Bush did four good things last week. He strengthened sanctions on Sudanese companies and officials in response to the ongoing massacres in Darfur. He called on Congress to double the funding for global AIDS programs, to thirty billion dollars. He directed his envoy in Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, to sit down with his Iranian counterpart and discuss ways of stabilizing Iraq—the most high-profile meeting between top officials of the two countries in years. And he attacked the demagoguery of right-wing critics of the bipartisan immigration bill.

Each case has its caveats, flaws, and what-took-so-longs. But it should be noted that the three hundred and thirty-second week of the Bush Presidency was one of the best. Nobody will remember it.

. . . the current President will repeat the same sunny falsehoods and sententious illusions about the war until he leaves office, and then he will go on repeating them in retirement. And that will be his legacy: the war, and the shallow, unreflective character that made it. ♦

- - George Packer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html
appears to be a permanent link to a particular item at washingtonpost.com, but, weirdly, it isn't. Instead, it's always the link to Howie's newest "Media Notes" blog posting. Thus, early this morning, it pointed to Howie's blog posting from yesterday ("Bailing on Bush"), but now it points to today's blog posting ("The Girls of 2008").

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/06/06/BL2007060600552.html
is the permanent link to Howie's blog posting for today ("The Girls of 2008").

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/06/05/BL2007060500451.html
is the permanent link to yeterday's "Bailing on Bush" blog posting which was referenced by Glenn.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/06/05/BL2007060500451.html
Bailing on Bush
By Howard Kurtz
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Now that the Bush ship has hit its share of icebergs, it's interesting to watch how many conservatives are heading for the lifeboats . . . One of the latest to break with the president is Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who  took leave  from her job to support Bush in the 2004 campaign:

[Howie then quotes from Peggy's column, but he doesn't quote her writing, "For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome." and then Howie finishes his comments on Bush and conservatism by saying]

Give her points for honesty.

[Howie then does a segue from conservative "honesty" to Democratic Party hypocrisy as exemplified by their "cold cash" congressman. What a contrast!]

Eh? Give Peggy Noonan honesty points? As the novelist and critic Mary McCarthy famously said, about the playwright Lillian Hellman, “every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’”