STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.

In Game of Expectations, Bush Usually Wins (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 6/8/03).

At the moment, Bush is fighting to deflate the standards he created on the eve of the Iraq war when he said there is "no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." The president has been struggling to explain why, after more than two months of searching, no weapons have been found -- even suggesting the discovery of two trailers that could have been used to make biological weapons meant "we found the weapons of mass destruction."

Still, there is little sign that this will pose a political problem for Bush, because polls show that the discovery of forbidden weapons is not a priority for Americans. And after weeks of retroactively lowering expectations and a chorus of criticism from Democrats, some Republicans believe even the discovery of a small quantity of weapons would vindicate Bush. "They have so set this up, and the Democrats are out on such a limb, that if we have this stuff, it will be just amazing," Bond said.

This is a weak article that adds little new to well-trod ground. Milbank confuses being underestimated with setting the bar low, which are related but distinct, and makes the odd argument that, by being a leader of fraternity life at Yale, W overcame the low expectations set for legacy admittees. But the point excerpted above is important. The President's foes have set the terms of the debate so that, if we discover only a fraction of the wmd's that Hans Blix and the French agree Saddam had, the whole issue goes away. The President may be a master at setting the bar low, but he is helped immeasurably by the extent to which his enemies still underestimate him. Posted by David Cohen at June 8, 2003 6:48 PM