Mashall Metaphor watch

This is a serious one because Marshall calls it an analogy

"Sometimes in baseball a batter decides to take a pitch. He's decided in advance that he's not going to swing no matter what comes down the pike. But in most cases, when a batter steps up to the plate, he doesn't decide whether he's going to swing until he sees the pitch. Only an idiot decides in advance not knowing what he's going to face. And yet this is roughly what the Bush camp says was the only reasonable, or I suppose manly, approach to the Iraq war. "

This is a very bad analogy, because batter has to decide whether to swing as quickly as Richard Cheney decided to authorize NORAD to shoot down airliners

9/11 commission report P 41

" His reaction was described byScooter Libby as quick and decisive, “in about the time it takes a batter to
decide to swing.” The Vice President authorized fighter aircraft to engage theinbound plane."

A batter who reflects on the complexities of a pitch might as well leave his bat in the dugout. In contrast Bush had months to consider new information, but chose not to. Actually you know Kerry was discussing not just whether to swing (invade) but also how. A slightly unfair analogy would be Bush is a batter who swings with his eyes closed.

I would say a better analogy for Bush is a quarterback who calls a passing play in the huddle (ok relays instructions from his coach). The decision has been made, but should be secret. Quarterback Bush threw the pass even though the designated receiver ran into triple coverage then slipped and fell.