MORE ON BUSH’S SPEECH: A reader emails:

For supporters of the war (like me) the salient question about Bush’s speech is: Is this just the beginning of a sustained, coherent counter-argument or just a one-off?

To use a baseball analogy, Bush is like the batter who hits for power and not average.

When he connects, he can a hit spectacular homer.

The problem is, he rarely connects.

The Democrats, by contrast, are playing littleball, whittling at the GOP with an investigation here, a misquote there, an MS Word doc from 1973 …

It’s the Texas Rangers against the Chicago White Sox–and we all know who won the World Series.

If the President keeps this up, then–great! Supporters have been waiting eons for the elephants to get back in this fight.

On the other hand, if this is another one of the President’s “there, that oughtta hold the little buggers for the next six months” gestures, then things won’t change except to get worse.

The GOP needs to realize that actions don’t always speak louder than words, especially in politics, and especially for Republicans.

Yes, it’s all about the follow-through.

UPDATE: Lorie Byrd has thoughts on Bush’s timing.