Their ideology is so dark and so dismal that when people really think about it, it’ll be rejected

The White House website reminds us that Sunday is the 50th anniversary of our national motto, “Do What We Say or We Will Fuck You up” “In God We Trust.” A presidential proclamation says we should “observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.” So be sure to do that.

Well, I’ve selected my favorite quotes from the Bush-Blair press conference (none of the quotes are from Blair, who often attempts to add a little nuance but today just repeated what Bush said, but in something more closely approximating the English language). Re-reading them all together, I noticed a cumulative awfulness that would be diluted by being interspersed with my usual sarcastic comments (also, I have a headache and want to take a nap). So here goes:

Isn’t it interesting that when Prime Minister Olmert starts to reach out to President Abbas to develop a Palestinian state, militant Hamas creates the conditions so that, you know, there’s a crisis, and then Hezbollah follows up? Isn’t it interesting, as a democracy takes hold in Iraq, that Al Qaida steps up its efforts to murder and bomb in order to stop the democracy?

And, yes, we want to help people rebuild their lives; absolutely. But we also want to address the root causes of the problem. And the root cause of the problem is you’ve got Hezbollah that is armed and willing to fire rockets into Israel.

And, you know, listen, the temptation is to say, “It’s too tough. Let’s just try to solve it quickly with something that won’t last. Let’s just get it off the TV screens.”

On the other hand, in my judgment, it would be a big mistake not to solve the underlying problems. Otherwise, everything will seem fine, and then you’ll be back at a press conference saying: How come you didn’t solve the underlying problems?

Now, what kind of state is it that has got a political party that has got a militia? It’s a state that needs to be helped, is what that is.

I mean, now there’s an unprovoked attack on a democracy. Why? I happen to believe because progress is being made toward democracies.

And we’ll ultimately prevail, because their -- they have -- their ideology is so dark and so dismal that when people really think about it, it’ll be rejected.

They just got a different tool to use than we do: They kill innocent lives to achieve objectives. That’s what they do. And they’re good. They get on the TV screens and they get people to ask questions about, well, you know, this, that or the other. I mean, they’re able to kind of say to people: Don’t come and bother us, because we will kill you.

We share the same urgency of trying to stop the violence. That’s why Condi Rice went out there very quickly. ... I mean, I could’ve called her back here and could’ve sat around, visited and talked.