The credulity required to believe that Petraeus was going to say anything that the White House hadn't written for him in the first place

The segment on Gen. Petraeus from the Daily Show last night is a fine example of the show at its best, skewering every aspect of Monday's "long-awaited" report from the media's long, mindless hyping of an essentially inconsequential event to the credulity required to believe that Petraeus was going to say anything that the White House hadn't written for him in the first place.




The John Hodgman commentary segment is also very worthy of the show's rightly sterling reputation, especially insofar as it highlights the constant re-/non-definition of success in Iraq such that no one has any idea what "success" is actually supposed to entail. Tim's Orwell post is especially appropriate in light of all this—the drawdown in troops beginning in March due to the Army's reaching its logistical limits, which was announced months ago, is now rebranded during the Petraeus speech as proof of the surge's success. Chocolate rations up again.