Gotcha games and simple honesty

One of the more loathesome tendencies in American political life is the “gotcha” soundbite. The Democrats are jumping all over President Bush for supposedly saying “I don’t think you can win” the war on terror. (See the transcript.)
The last time they reacted like this, it was when Bush said “We will double our Special Forces to conduct terrorist operations” in a major speech. Clearly, if you read the text and especially if you hear the interview, Bush was saying that we might not win the war on terror in four years, but he was interested in minimizing the conditions where terrorism can flourish.
I know, both sides play “gotcha.” But it just turns people off of politics in general, and that’s not good for anyone. Nobody seriously thinks that President Bush doesn’t think we can win the war on terror — he’s said as much many times, but in his opinion, it will take many years. Nobody believes that he would send Special Forces troops on terror missions, either. It’s insulting to our collective intelligence to play this kind of stupid game.
Oh, wait — I’m sorry, my mistake: The guy who said we would conduct terrorist operations was Senator John F. Kerry in his own nomination speech.