Why is Bush So Confident?

Maybe it's because he's winning, and winning big in Iraq. Check out this statement:

Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of a prominent Sunni bloc, said insurgent groups had prevented violence from interfering with Thursday's elections, the newspaper said.

The truce resulted from weeks of negotiations between U.S. officials and insurgents.

Sunni religious leader Sheik Abed al-Latif Hemaiym told The Times in an interview in Amman that Sunnis were prepared to work with the United States.

"We now believe we must get on good terms with the Americans," Hemaiym said. "As Arab Sunnis, we believe that within this hot area of Iraq, facing challenges from neighboring nations who want to swallow us, especially the Iranians, we feel we have no alternative."

Wow! Why wasn't that reported in the New York Times?

Read it here. [the reference is to the Washington, not the New York Times]

Note the "weeks of negotiations between U.S. officials and insurgents." Why just a few days ago prominent Democrats were denouncing the administration's refusal to "reach out" to the insurgents.

It's rope-a-dope time again.

RELATED:

John McIntyre, over at RealClear Politics, has a similar feeling. He asks, "Have the Democrats Walked Into A Trap..., Again."

Read it here.

Democrats never tire of telling people just how very smart they are and how dumb Bush is, but he keeps taking them to the cleaners again, and again, and again. Funny thing that.

Bytheway -- I noted the rope-a-dope situation emerging a week before the blogosphere caught on to it. [here]. [enough patting myself on the back, my arm's getting sore]

AND THIS:

James Taranto jumps on the rope-a-dope bandwagon. [here]