I guess war supporters have settled on their new assessment of conditions in Iraq. Upon arriving in Australia a few days ago, the president insisted that "we're kicking ass" in Iraq.

In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was apparently on the same page.

"My last visit convinced me more than anything else that the biggest benefit of the surge is to take the men and women on the front lines and change their attitude about their mission. They've gone from going around, waiting to be shot, to feeling like they're kicking their ass."

Kicking whose ass? Graham didn't say.

This need not be complicated. This week, the GAO documented the fact that Iraq has successfully completed three of the administration's 18 benchmarks. This hardly qualifies as "kicking ass."

Both Graham and Bush have been struggling with reality for quite a while, but it seems as if they've decided the cautious optimism no longer works, at least as far as public relations goes. Dems keep pointing to reality, and highlighting the fact that the policy isn't working. If Bush, Graham, and other war supporters concede publicly that the strategy is struggling, it would be perceived as a sign of weakness.

So, they swing for the fences. Don't believe your lying eyes -- the Iraq policy isn't just working; it's actually "kicking ass."

The AEI audience seemed to appreciate Graham's comments, and I don't doubt the GOP base and congressional Republicans got to pump their fists in the air a bit after hearing the president's remarks. There may even be some Americans who hear about this and think, "Well, if things were really going poorly, the president and his allies wouldn't seem so confident."

But that doesn't make it so.