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Looks Like We Want To Start A War

Thursday, May 10, 2006 1:08 AM

Maybe President Ahmadinejad should have sent President Bush a picture book.

In an interview with a St. Petersburg newspaper, President Bush said, "It looks like it did not answer the main question that the world is asking and that is, 'When will you get rid of your nuclear program?'"

Looks like. Come on, it either did or did not.

Looks like my souffle fell. Looks like a foul ball. Looks like rain.

All of which means the Decider didn't read the letter. Maybe he skimmed it. Or maybe he had another revelation from the Archangel Dick.

"Diplomacy takes a while when you are dealing with different nations," Bush pointed out.

Diplomacy also requires a willingness to listen. And, as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright remarked, "In diplomacy, you make your opportunities. Acting in a dismissive way doesn't get you anywhere."

Of course, the media (in this case, the New York Times) gets its lumps for prettifying Bushspeak once again. Just as they edited out the stammering in Bush's comments about Katrina, Condi Rice's abrasively blunt response becomes a dignified, 'Bush administration officials have said it was not a serious diplomatic overture.'

If you put that phrase into Google, you'll find that no one said that, least of all the Iron Bitch of State. Neither does it show up on the State Department website. (I also checked 'serious effort' with similar results.)

Did no one learn from the 'We didn't say imminent' game? Why is the media insisting on lining up for more?


And how about President Jeb Bush?

Yeah. That's right up there with nominating Hillary Clinton or Al Gore.

Even though it'd be ironic to have Jeb have to clean up his brother's mistakes.


Of course, it's not like the Democrats are positioning themselves to win anything.

They can't even agree on a strategy.

First, put some steel in your spine and stand up to the GOP. Stop waffling and hedging about the continued moral failures of the Bush Administration.

Just as we should not predicate our national security on intercepting a phone call, the Democrats should be wary of predicating their victory on the Republicans dropping the ball. Nobody plays a ball game that way.


General Michael Hayden has informed senators that he would be open to retiring from the military and bringing a controversial surveillance program "under Federal law".

The problem is that putting Hayden in a business suit doesn't change who he is or what he's done, any more than putting a chef's hat on Jeffrey Dahmer makes him a Cordon Bleu alumnus.

And when Hayden talks about Federal law, might that be the idiotic proposal by Senator Mike DeWine to give President Bush a free pass on breaking the law? The goal is oversight, not the Chimp-in-Charge's rendition of see no evil.

While members of the Senate are busy praising Hayden's dedicated service, please remember that he broke the law and violated his oath to defend the Constitution. And it was because neither Hayden nor Alberto Gonzales wanted to be bothered with the paperwork.



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