firedoglake Archive Site

Define "Last Throes"

From the Guardian:

Insurgents have taken over much of the Iraqi city of Ramadi and used it to launch attacks against US forces while terrorising the population with public beheadings.

A huge bomb killed five American marines yesterday and showered body parts on to rooftops, fuelling suspicion that armour-piercing technology is being developed and tested in Ramadi.

As Holden points out, someone should tell Scottiepants. Without Jeff Gannon there to bail him out, his impaired vocabulary is getting his chestnuts roasted at the daily gaggle:

Terry Moran, ABC News: Right. What is the evidence that the insurgency is in its last throes?

SCOTT McCLELLAN: I think I just explained to you the desperation of terrorists and their tactics.

Moran: What's the evidence on the ground that it's being extinguished?

McCLELLAN: Terry, we're making great progress to defeat the terrorist and regime elements. You're seeing Iraqis now playing more of a role in addressing the security threats that they face. They're working side by side with our coalition forces. They're working on their own. There are a lot of special forces in Iraq that are taking the battle to the enemy in Iraq. And so this is a period when they are in a desperate mode.

Moran: Well, I'm just wondering what the metric is for measuring the defeat of the insurgency.

McCLELLAN: Well, you can go back and look at the Vice President's remarks. I think he talked about it.

Moran: Yes. Is there any idea how long a last throe lasts for?

McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Steve.

Let's use the term correctly in a sentence:

Social Security piratization is in its last throes.
Public support for the war in Iraq is in its last throes.
Any shred of credibililty the MSM retains is in its last throes.

Maybe the Department of Education should lay off the kids and whip up some flash cards for No White House Press Secretary Left Behind.

posted by Jane Hamsher @ 6/17/2005 10:51:00 AM