Democratic debate: Is America ready for a president with a messy desk?

Democratic debate, in Nevada, with poor Dennis Kucinich losing a court case to force MSNBC to let him in, not 90 minutes before the start time.

Transcript.

Our pictures today illustrate the many hand gestures of the Democratic Party (except the last picture, which I couldn’t resist).

Obama is asked if what happened in New Hampshire was that people in the privacy of the voting booth were unwilling to vote for a black person. He said no, “you know, at any given moment, people are going to be making judgments based on who they think is best speaking to them about the urgent problems that they’re facing in this country.” I can understand his unwillingness to look like he’s whining about being victimized, but to deny the continuing salience of race in America is going rather too far in the other direction.


Later, Brian Williams asks him about those “Obama is a secret Muslim” emails. Obama says, “the American people are I think smarter than folks give them credit for.” Sure they are, Barry, sure they are.

Obama says that when he said Hillary was “likeable enough” during the last debate, he really meant to say that she was plenty likeable. Sorry, Barack, there’s no way to call Hillary likeable without sounding like it’s meant ironically. Can’t be done.


Edwards says he’s a fighter, that growing up in mill towns he had to literally fight to survive. Literally, huh?


Edwards says that his chief weakness is his powerful emotional response to the pain he sees around him.

Hillary says her chief weakness is that sometimes she gets impatient when people don’t understand what we can do to help each other, and this can come across as pushy.

Obama’s chief weakness is that he tends to lose papers and has a messy desk.


Questions for each other. Edwards: what do insurance and pharmaceutical companies expect for their donations? Obama: they’re inspired by my message. Wait, let me get the exact quote: “What happens is, is that you’ve got - if you’ve got a mid-level executive at a drug company or an insurance company who is inspired by my message of change, and they send me money, then that’s recorded as money from the drug or the insurance industry, even though it’s not organized, coordinated or in any way subject to the problems that you see when lobbyists are given money.” Okay, that’s less believable than when he said that no one voted against him on racial grounds or that Hillary is likeable.


Hillary will continue the Bush policy of punishing colleges that exclude military recruiters and ROTC. Those darn schools “disrespect” people who want to serve. Obama and Edwards would also punish them (Obama goes on about the disproportionate burden on poor and rural types, while Edwards is a little embarrassed and skips quickly to talking about veterans).


Everyone is weak to point of pathetic about guns, although Hillary is against “illegal guns.” Even Obama says “it is very important for many Americans to be able to hunt, fish, take their kids out, teach them how to shoot.” Er, why are blood sports so very important?


Obama says that we should make sure No Child Left Behind “is not a tool to punish people”. The very center of NCLB is high-stakes testing, which literally does not work if it is not a tool to punish people.


Edwards opposes building new nuclear power plants. I didn’t know that.


Plenty likeable:

Amending the Constitution so it’s in Huckabee’s God’s standards

Mike Huckabee: “I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”

I assume that’s about banning gay marriage, although perhaps he also favors a constitutional amendment requiring wives to “submit graciously” to their husbands.

Chimpy of Arabia II: When I said optimistic about a state being defined, why

Yesterday Bush met with some Saudi entrepreneurs, because “It’s important for the president to hear thoughts, hopes, dreams, aspirations, concerns from folks that are out making a living.”

He said, “I love the fact that some of you were educated in America. I think you’ll find you got a good education there, but more importantly, Americans get to see you, and you get to see them.” You get to see them looking nervously at you in restaurants, crossing hurriedly to the other side of the street, looking around for a cop...

He said, “One thing that’s for certain: the United States benefits when people come to my country,” adding, “especially those fifteen 9/11 guys that came from here, they really saved my bacon,” adding, “which is kinda ironic, cuz you guys cain’t eat bacon, right?”, adding, “Mmm, bacon.”

He continued, “And the best way to achieve better understanding in the world is for folks just to get together, and get to understand that we share the same God”. And what God might that be? Harper’s Scott Horton suggests that the God who always seems to inspire George when he visits the Middle East might be Shiva. Personally, I’m thinking drunken, not very bright, bellicose Thor, who let’s face it only got to be Thunder God because daddy was All-Father.


Is that the same sword he was waving around in Bahrain?


Today Bush talked with American reporters.

He explained why Condi is making a surprise visit to Iraq: “It’s to, first of all, be there.”

A reporter asked about progress on the Iraqi “benchmarks.” Bush explained, if that’s the word I’m looking for:

A political system evolves and grows. It grows when people have confidence. It grows when the grassroots begins to agitate for change. It grows when there’s alternatives. There’s competition emerging. Those are all the forces necessary to bring people together to get things done. And the leadership is more confident. The grassroots is more involved; there’s been more reconciliation taking place at the local level. And the government is beginning to respond.

This is -- we assume that democracy is a natural phenomenon for people out there. These are people that lived under tyranny. They lived in a society that was divided by a dictator. And they’re beginning to form the habits of self-government, manifested in laws being passed. ...

I reminded everybody last year, you know, people did focus on the benchmarks and so do I, but I also reminded everybody last year that one way to determine whether or not a government is functioning is to look at their budgeting process and how they distribute revenues from central government out to the provinces, which is a key component of a federalized type system. And the definition of federalism, by the way, has yet to be clearly defined in Iraq -- and that’s part of the issues they’re working through....

But nevertheless, even though they haven’t passed that, there is revenue sharing. In other words, there is a process.

Sorry, what was the question again?

Asked what he would like OPEC to do about oil prices: “I would like for them to realize that high energy prices affect the economies of consuming nations.” See, I’ll bet that hadn’t even occurred to them. “And that if these economies weaken, those economies will eventually be buying fewer barrels of oil.” Er, but they’ll be paying record high prices for each of those barrels. Why would OPEC consider that a bad thing?

“What’s happened is, is that demand for energy has outstripped new supply. And that’s why there’s high price.” George has an MBA, you know.

Bush said that King Abdullah “is most interested in two subjects, right off the bat: First, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. I think what he really wanted to determine was how -- when I said optimistic about a state being defined, why.” King Abdullah is a who what where when why kind of guy.

Also, they talked about Iran. “And I went over the NIE with him.” Oh good. “I was making it clear it was an independent judgment, because what they basically came to the conclusion of, is that he’s trying -- you know, this is a way to make sure that all options aren’t on the table. So I defended our intelligence services, but made it clear that they’re an independent agency, that they come to conclusions separate from what I may or may not want.”

Asked about the consequences if there’s another naval confrontation with Iranian boats: “I didn’t say, if they do it again -- if they do it again -- I don’t know, what do you mean, if they do it again?” He refused to say whether such boats would be fired on, saying, “My only point is, they shouldn’t be doing it.” He explained that it’s up to the captain to fire if he feels threatened: “These are judgment calls and there are clear rules of engagement.” Er, George, clear rules and judgment calls are the complete opposite of each other.

TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN:

Q: Do you have any sense of what they were up to? What motive --

BUSH: I don’t know.

Q: -- were they test

BUSH: I don’t know.

Q: Do you think they were playing some sort of game?

BUSH: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Asked if someday some American president would do a Reaganesque “tear down this wall” for the Israeli wall, he said “I don’t think in the short-term that day will come.” He said the wall gives Israelis a “sense of security” that allows them to negotiate. He didn’t say anything about the Palestinians also maybe needing a sense of security.

IN OTHER WORDS: “The deal becomes more security. In other words, it’s a series of security measures that will eventually cause a state to come into being.”

IN OTHER WORDS: “In other words, when I said contiguous, that means contiguous territory that does not -- Swiss cheese, that it’s –”


Bush looking at a Koran at the Al Murabba Palace and Natural History Museum. CAPTION CONTEST!

Chimpy of Arabia

Bush is now in Saudi Arabia.


He brought a present: $9 billion in arms deals ($20b for his Arab allies in the region as a whole). They gave him... a medal.

Shiny

The King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit.

I has merit.

And another kiss.


Dude hasn’t had so much homoerotic action since Skull and Bones.

Understanding the UAE

Bush in the UAE: “I don’t think most Americans understand the UAE.”

My brain isn’t working this morning. I’m gonna declare a special Bush-in-the-UAE-a-place-we-don’t-understand CAPTION CONTEST, and go back to bed.

I sure hope it’s not about race

In my last post, I should probably have mentioned that Bush’s speech in the UAE also included a fierce attack on Iran, which he called “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror.” He went on, “Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere.” Everywhere? He said the US is “rallying our friends around the world” against Iran “to confront this danger before it is too late.” Too late? Define “too late.” After January 20, 2009, presumably.

He also said that democracy in the Middle East is perfectly compatible with hereditary leaders such as the sheik-president of the UAE and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who he is visiting next, just like Japan has an emperor and the US has the Bush dynasty.

On Meet the Press this morning, Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama of playing the race card: “I don’t think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it’s not about race.” So neither gender nor race are relevant to American politics anymore, Hillary?

Asked about her judgment in voting for the Iraq war (which she still says was not a vote for preemptive war, although when Bush used that vote to start a preemptive war, I don’t recall her complaining), she snapped, “Judgment is not a single snapshot. Judgment is what you do across the course of your life.” Wow, that’s really the best you can do?

British political comedian Armando Iannucci finds himself less than impressed with Obama’s speeches (and with presidential campaign rhetoric in general): “Maybe it’s because his is a rhetoric that soars and takes flight, but alights nowhere. It declares that together we can do anything, but doesn’t mention any of the things we can do. It’s a perpetual tickle in the nose that never turns into a sneeze.”

The British government is thinking about putting organ donation on an “assumed consent” basis (opt-out rather than opt-in). What’s the most alarming headline you could put on that story? From the Indy: “PM Backs Removal of Body Parts Without Consent.”

Bush in the UAE

Bush went to the United Arab Emirates today and gave a speech. He told the Emirati they should get one a those democracies, because “democracy is the only form of government that treats individuals with the dignity and equality that is their right.”

“Yeah,” said Sheikh Zayed, “We’ll get right on that.”


Speaking of democracy and dignity and shit, I just noticed that one of the candidates for president for the American Independent Party is one Mad Max Reiskse.

Bush in the Middle East: People say, what are you talking about, hateful vision?

Bush continues to tour the Middle East. This morning he was in Kuwait, where he met with Petraeus and Crocker and with American soldiers.

“Hope is returning to Baghdad,” he announced, only to be told that Bob Hope is no longer with us.

“Iraqis are gradually take [sic] control of their country,” he said, as the alcohol are gradually take control of his few remaining brain cells.

Asked by a reporter if there will be further troop reductions in Iraq, he explained, “General Petraeus made it clear to me that, from his perspective, that conditions on the ground will be that which guides his recommendations. And I made it clear that’s what I want.” So they just sat around, making shit clear to each other. “And that’s what the discussion was about -- besides me thanking him.”


Other things that were cleared up:

• I made it clear to the General that I need to know his considered judgment about what it takes to make sure the security gains we have achieved remain in place. And that’s what the discussion was about -- besides me thanking him.
• And so one of the purposes of this trip is to make it abundantly clear to those serving our country that, one, they have earned the respect of the United States of America...
• Our message is very clear: It’s in your interest that you pass good law.

THE AMAZING, DEATH-DEFYING DOUBLE IN OTHER WORDS: “In other words, our General has got to understand that success in Iraq is critical. In other words, that ought to be the primary concern when it comes to determining troop levels, and no better person to ask as -- on how to achieve success in Iraq than the General in charge of Iraq.”

FINE WITH ME: “My attitude is, if he didn’t want to continue the drawdown, that’s fine with me, in order to make sure we succeed, see. I said to the General, if you want to slow her down, fine; it’s up to you.”

MORE CONVERSATIONS WITH HIS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: “People say, what are you talking about, hateful vision?”

SORRY, HATERS: “These haters have no vision of hope. They want to impose their ideology on every man, woman and child in the societies which they feel like they should dominate.”

Said the Iraqis are working on a “de-Baath law.”


Then he spoke to some of the troops stationed in Kuwait, some of them from the Third Army, Patton’s old outfit. “From their noble ranks came soldiers with some of our nation’s highest directors [sic], including 19 recipients of the Medal of Honor. You are -- a distinguished history”.

WHAT THE PAGES WILL SEE: “Sometimes it’s hard to forecast what the history pages are going to see when you’re right in the midst of it all. ... But I want to tell you what the history will say. The history will say, it was when you were called upon, you served, and the service you rendered was absolutely necessary to defeat an enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.” Here at home, George?


And he looked forward to the end – uh oh – of history: “There is no doubt in my mind when history was written, the final page will say: Victory was achieved by the United States of America for the good of the world”.

HIS IMAGINARY FRIENDS HAVE LOUSY GRAMMAR TOO: “People say, you looking forward to the trip?”

In the afternoon he went to Bahrain. And, you know, the emir of Kuwait gave him a nice kiss...


But the king of Bahrain gave him a fucking SWORD!



He will be missed.

No, seriously, the king also gave him some sort of award.


Is that thing in the middle a telephone? Anyway, George thought they were chocolates, which might explain the uncomfortable way he’s sitting.


Get Your War On.

Incidental torture: Rasul v. Myers

The D.C. Circuit Court ruled yesterday in Rasul v. Myers (click here for the ruling, pdf) that four former Guantanamo prisoners (the ones the movie “Road to Guantanamo” was about) may not sue Rumsfeld and military officers for torturing them because those officials, in ordering the torture, were not “act[ing] as rogue officials or employees who implemented a policy of torture for reasons unrelated to the gathering of intelligence,” but rather it was “the type of conduct the defendants were employed to engage in... The alleged tortious conduct [that means related to a tort, not related to torture, although you could be forgiven for making that mistake] was incidental to the defendants’ legitimate employment duties”. (Alberto Gonzales certified that the defendants were acting within the scope of their employment.)

The ruling doesn’t quite say that torturing prisoners is okay unless it’s just for fun. The court makes the distinction between rogue and non-rogue officials in order to rule that the torturees should first have made a claim to the “appropriate Federal agency” and when that is rejected to sue the US government rather than Rumsfeld, Gen. Myers et al as individuals.

But in making that determination, the courts are saying that the government knew there would be torture when they ordered that prisoners be sent to Guantanamo, that, in the words of the District Court in this case, “torture is a foreseeable consequence of the military’s detention of suspected enemy combatants.” Therefore, logically, they must have intended it. Upholding the lower court, the D.C. Circuit echoes those words: “it was foreseeable that conduct that would ordinarily be indisputably ‘seriously criminal’ would be implemented by military officials responsible for detaining and interrogating suspected enemy combatants.” So that’s okay, then.

Remember when torture in Abu Ghraib was the work of a few “rotten apples”? Here, it’s the torturees who are claiming that the US government never authorized torture and that it condemns torture and considers torture to be criminal behaviour, while it’s the government and the military defendants who are claiming that torture was “incidental” to their duties.

Republican debate, wherein is revealed why marriage is an important institution

Republican debate, South Carolina, this time Fox generously allowed Ron Paul to participate, though they spent the whole evening asking him questions like, “Are you insane, or just a big ole loser? Thirty seconds, please.”

Paul was asked to disavow his supporters who believe 9/11 was a government conspiracy. He wouldn’t do it, although he did say that personally, “I’ve abandoned those viewpoints.”


What viewpoints has he not abandoned? Paul told his fellow candidates that they need to “understand the importance of Austrian theory of the business cycle.”

And that’s quite enough about Ron Paul.

McCain kept insisting that “I’m called the sheriff by my friends in the Senate who are the appropriators.” Of course, he’s from Arizona, where I belief it’s traditional for sheriffs to be batshit insane fascists. McCain added, holding back a tear, “and I didn’t win Miss Congeniality. And as president, I won’t win Miss Congeniality, either.” Will you settle for Sheriff Congeniality?


Huckabee said the Second Amendment is “just as precious” as the First. The precious, the precious... He was not asked if the 3rd Amendment was more or less precious.

Not having soldiers quartered on you.

You should know that, people.

There was a fascinating theological discussion over what would happen to Iranians who dared challenge the United States Navy. Huckabee said they should “be prepared that the next things you see will be the gates of Hell” while Thompson said, “I think one more step and they would have been introduced to those virgins that they’re looking forward to seeing.” Which is it, gentlemen, virgins or gates of hell?

McCain was asked what he would have done if he’d been the captain. “If I’d have been the captain of the ship, I probably would have assessed the situation as it was at the time.” All those years in the Navy really paid off, huh John?

Later, butting into a question about Israeli-Palestinian peace being answered by Ron Paul, McCain irrelevantly interjected, “Could I just make a comment? I’m not interested in trading with Al Qaida. All they want to trade is burkas. I don’t want to travel with them. They like one-way tickets.” Yeah, like your track record with landing planes is so great.


Twitt Romney said that foreign policy in the 20th century was like a game of checkers, but now it’s more like 3-dimensional chess. Which I think means the Vulcans are totally gonna beat our asses.

Wait, could Romney be a Vulcan? A Mormon Vulcan? Because that would explain a lot.

Romney: “My whole life has been about bringing change to things I have touched”. Um, eww.

Huckabee again cited Trucker’s Magazine, bragging about Arkansas’s improved roads. Also, “We had no bridges falling down in Arkansas.”

Asked about the thing about wives submitting graciously to their husbands, Huckabee complained that “everybody says religion is off limits, except we always can ask me the religious questions.” Yeah, funny that, reverend. And he said that his views about the inferiority of women (or wives, anyway) “has nothing to do with presidency.” And he objected to the rest of us even paying attention to something that “really was spoken to believers, to Christian believers.” How dare he not be left in hypocritical peace to say one thing to Christian believers, and another thing to the rest of us? He said that anyone who knows his wife, “I don’t think they for one minute think that she’s going to just sit by and let me do whatever I want to.” So I guess she’ll be going to the gates of hell for not submitting graciously, hmm reverend? And he claimed to have really meant that husbands and wives submit to each other. Which is not what he meant. At all. “Each partner gives 100 percent of their devotion to the other and that’s why marriage is an important institution, because it teaches us how to love.”


Thompson: “We need to be a nation of high fences and wide gates, and we get to decide when to open the gate and when to close it.” Fred gets hours of entertainment playing with his garage door opener.

Thompson says employers should be required “to use the modern technology that we have now so that they can, in effect, push a button on the front end and find out whether or not someone is legal”. So he wants to install buttons on aliens, is that it?


Huckabee says that it is possible to get rid of all 12 million illegal aliens: “People got themselves here, they can get themselves to the back of the line.” Boy, illegal aliens really do all the jobs Americans don’t want to do.

Can’t you keep it in your pants just this once, Rudy?

Bush in the Middle East: I am confident that the status quo is unacceptable

Bush did some more of that thing he does that’s a little like speaking, in Ramallah and Jerusalem.


Sigh. How is it possible for him to speak so badly? Try this test: say these words out loud: “I know each leaders shares that important goal”. Did your brain revolt and try to stop you? If you carried out this experiment at work, are your co-workers looking at you with worried expressions and offering to call an ambulance?

In the first event, with Palestinian President Abbas, just before lunch, he said, “I explained yesterday, and I just want to explain again today, there are three tracks to this process, as far as we’re concerned.” In the second, in late afternoon, he said, “I underscored to both Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas that progress needs to be made on four parallel tracks.” Make up your mind or learn to count.


IN OTHER WORDS: “President Abbas was elected on a platform of peace. In other words, he just wasn’t somebody who starts talking about it lately, he campaigned on it.”

THAT “SOME” GUY IS HEARD FROM AGAIN: “Now, look, there are some in the world who don’t believe in the universality of freedom. I understand that. They say, like, freedom is okay for some of us, but maybe not all of us. I understand it, but I reject it.”


YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!: “And I believe it’s possible -- not only possible, I believe it’s going to happen, that there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office. That’s what I believe.” Why does he believe that? “And the reason I believe that is because I hear the urgency in the voice of both the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the Palestinian Authority.” Or maybe they just have to pee.

IF HE NEEDS TO BE A PAIN: “I was asked yesterday at a press conference, you know, what do you intend to do; if you’re not going to write the agreement, what do you intend to do? I said, nudge the process forward -- like, pressure; be a pain if I need to be a pain -- which in some people’s mind isn’t all that hard.”

IN OTHER, LIKE, WORDS: “And they said, well, like -- yesterday, somebody said, well, are you disappointed? I arrived and it nudged the process forward. In other words, we can help influence the process, and will.”


OVER-CONFIDENT: This is what can happen when you get into a rhetorical rhythm: “I am confident that with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge. And I’m confident that when it emerges it will be a major step towards peace. I am confident that the status quo is unacceptable”.

CLEAR, SO VERY, VERY CLEAR: “And to the extent that Israeli actions have undermined the effectiveness of the Palestinian force, or the authority of the state relative to the average citizen, is something that we don’t agree with and have made our position clear.”

Due to fog, he actually had to drive into Palestine. So he says he now sort of understands the frustrations Palestinians feel at Israeli checkpoints: “You’ll be happy to hear that my motorcade of a mere 45 cars was able to make it through without being stopped. (Laughter.)” The transcript fails to report if any of those laughing were Palestinian. “My judgment is, I can understand frustrations.” But “The security of a state is essential, particularly in a day and age when people simply disregard the value of human life, and kill.”


IN OTHER WORDS: “In other words, they don’t want a state on their border from which attacks would be launched. I can understand that. Any reasonable person can understand that.”

IN OTHER CHEESY WORDS: “In other words, as I said earlier in my administration, I said, Swiss cheese isn’t going to work when it comes to the outline of a state. And I mean that.”

THE QUESTION IS: “The question is whether or not the hard issues can be resolved and the vision emerges, so that the choice is clear amongst the Palestinians -- the choice being, do you want this state, or do you want the status quo? Do you want a future based upon a democratic state, or do you want the same old stuff? And that’s a choice that I’m confident that if the Palestinian people are given, they will choose peace.”

CLEAR, SO VERY, VERY, ABUNDANTLY CLEAR: “And I’m convinced his government will yield a hopeful future. And the best way to make that abundantly clear is for there to be a vision that’s understandable.”

“See, the past has just been empty words, you know.” Oh, I know, I know.


Later in Jerusalem, he summarized his trip thus far for reporters: “I called upon both leaders to make sure their teams negotiate seriously, starting right now.” Take off those Groucho glasses. He said there should be an end to occupation, and that Palestine should be viable and contiguous. But the border should “reflect current realities” and he thinks he can “resolve” the issue of Palestinian refugees through compensation rather than return. So good luck with that.

In the afternoon, he went to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.


Here he is at the Door of Humility:


And here he and Condi are where the Baby Jeebus was born. CAPTION CONTEST!


He said of the visit, “It’s a fascinating history in this church, so not only was my soul uplifted, my knowledge of history was enriched.”

Bush in Israel: I’m an optimistic people

Bush, in Israel, explains, oh, something about rolls and visions: “The role of the Israeli leadership and the Palestinian leadership is going to do the hard work necessary to define a vision.”

I’m told the Israeli press was full of pictures of a bathrobe Olmert is giving George, with his name in gold stitching. Whatevs.


Oh, and a sports jersey.


Later, Bush had a press conference with Prime Minister Olmert. As politicians tend to do when they visit the Middle East, he used the word “historic” a lot: “I view this as an historic moment. It’s a historic opportunity, Mr. Prime Minister, first of all, to work together to deal with the security of Israel and the Palestinian people -- matter of fact, the security of people who just simply want to live in peace.” Well, which ones, George, the people who just simply want to live in peace, or the Israelis and Palestinians?

“If I were a rich man, Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.”

A LITTLE PRESSURE: “If it looks like there needs to be a little pressure, Mr. Prime Minister, you know me well enough to know I’ll be more than willing to provide it. I will say the same thing to President Abbas tomorrow, as well.” Adding, “But when I say that to Laura, she always tells me she has a headache.”

More and more lately, Bush has been reporting on conversations with his imaginary friends: “you know, people in America say, well, do you really think these guys are serious? We’ve heard a lot of rhetoric in the past, a lot of grand proclamations.” “I’m an optimistic people -- people say, do you think it’s possible during your presidency, and the answer is, I’m very hopeful and will work hard to that end.”

REMINDER-IN-CHIEF: “And I want to remind people, Mr. Prime Minister, what I said at the press conference when I discussed that National Intelligence Estimate.” “Let me remind you what the NIE actually said.” “I will be talking about the opportunity for Middle Eastern peace, and remind people in the neighborhood that if they truly want to see two states living side by side in peace, they have an obligation, Arab leaders have an obligation to recognize Israel’s important contribution to peace and stability in the Middle East”. Oh, I think they all already recognize Israel’s important contribution to peace and stability in the Middle East.

“A little close there, grandpa.”

Bush, as we know, is not good at verb tenses. But he’s working at it: “I said then that Iran was a threat, Iran is a threat, and Iran will be a threat if the international community does not come together and prevent that nation from the development of the know-how to build a nuclear weapon.”

Prepositions, still a problem: “they’ve got missiles in which they can use to deliver the bomb.”

FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS: “The fundamental questions that I was seeking at Annapolis and on my return trip is the understanding about the power of what a vision will do for peace.”

TOO BIG ON THE GROUND: “and by the way, the atmosphere in America was, nothing is going to happen, see, that these issues are too big on the ground”

CONDESCENDER-IN-CHIEF: “You just heard the man talk about their desire to deal with core issues, which I guess for the uneducated on the issue, that means dealing with the issues like territory and right of return and Jerusalem.”

THE VISION TRACK: “There’s three tracks going on, by the way, during this process. One is the vision track.”

What is that vision track? “The goal is for there to be a clear vision of what a state would look like, so that, for example, reasonable Palestinian leadership can say, here’s your choice: You can have the vision of Hamas, which is dangerous and will lead to war and violence, or you can have the vision of a state, which should be hopeful.”

A STRAIGHT LINE IF I’VE EVER HEARD ONE: “As to the rockets, my first question is going to be to President Abbas, what do you intend to do about them?”

HE CANNOT BE A SAFE HAVEN: “[B]ut at least he’s [Abbas] told me that he fully recognizes in order for there to be a state, he cannot be a safe haven for terrorists that want to destroy Israel.”

There were, of course, protests, like this one in front of the American consulate in Jerusalem.


And in Gaza City, where Bush was severely insulted in culturally specific ways he won’t understand:

Wherein George Bush reveals what we must recognize

On arrival in Israel, Bush told the locals, “We must recognize that the great ideology based upon liberty is hopeful.”

As is the case with so many places, in Israel it’s all about the hats:



Just a little too happy to be there: