There wasn’t much worth noting on the final talk shows of 2006. Most of the regulars were nattering on about the death of former President Gerald Ford.  About the only thing remotely relevant was this interview with Senator Richard Lugar on Fox News Sunday on New Year’s Eve.
 
Since much of the recent posts on the PSA blog have been on Iraq’s future, especially post ISG report recommendations, consider this exchange with host Chris Wallace: 
 
WALLACE: How much confidence do you have that Prime Minister Maliki and his ruling coalition, all of those other Shi’ite parties, are capable and willing of taking the steps necessary to have this real national reconciliation?
 
LUGAR: I have very limited confidence despite the effects of our Ambassador Khalilzad, who’s done a tremendous job trying to push this. This is one of the facets of the Baker-Hamilton commission and needs to be taken seriously, the so-called contact group of the nations surrounding, a lot of the — made about negotiations with Syria and Iran. But equally important are contributions by the Jordanians, by the Saudis, by the Turks for that matter. In other words —
 
WALLACE: But as for Maliki himself?
 
LUGAR: Well, he has to at least bring pressure in addition to whatever our ambassador is saying to him. In other words, some people in our country are saying give Maliki three months, six months. But he doesn’t make (twice ?), school’s out, we come home. But that’s unlikely to get the job done.
 
And, in a perhaps inadvertent admission of just how feckless Congress has been during the Bush presidency consider this Hallmark moment. Remember it is made by a member of the President’s own Republican Party.

WALLACE: Senator, let’s talk about what the U.S. does next. It seems pretty clear that President Bush is leaning toward some new kind of surge of sending additional U.S. forces into Iraq. Do you support sending in more troops?
 
LUGAR: Well, I don’t know whether I do or not. And I say that because my prayer is that President Bush will take the advice that is coming frequently, and that is, with people being there on the takeoff, they have to support you on the landing. In the past, the administration has been inclined not to disregard Congress, but to not take Congress very seriously. [Emphasis added] I think this time Congress has to be taken seriously. There’s been an election, Republicans lost the election. There’s going to be a change in leadership in my committee, and likewise on the House side.
 

Related posts:

1. Nothing is Too Good for Our Boys, Redux