Diplomacy and a Realistic Foreign Policy

something that has been sorely lacking the past six years.

Excellent piece by Flynt Leverett.

The Farter in Chief

He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides, but forget about getting people to gas about that.

Drinking Again?

Man, does he look bad trying to explain the ruling against his spying program.

Waaaaay Over His Head

Bush's reason for why Hezbollah "lost" (via Digby):

The world got to see -- got to see what it means to confront terrorism. I mean, it's a -- it's the challenge of the 21st century, the fight against terror.

A group of ideologues, by the way, who use terror to achieve an objective -- this is the challenge.

And that's why in my remarks I spoke about the need for those of us who understand the blessings of liberty to help liberty prevail in the Middle East.

And the fundamental question is: Can it? And my answer is: Absolutely, it can. I believe that freedom is a universal value. And by that, I mean I believe people want to be free.

People want to be free. One way to put it is I believe mothers around the world want to raise their children in a peaceful world. That's what I believe...

Bush's remarks in this article aren't much better.

Chickens Coming Home

Heh.

Conservatives are none too happy with our dear CIC after the Israeli-Hezbollah cease-fire agreement.

Constitution in Crisis

At least Conyers is on the job.

Does anyone else remember the Downing Street memo, by the way?

Talk about important, but forgotten history.

Oh My God, What an Idiot!

Last week, Gen. John Abizaid, the Commander of the U.S. Central Command, raised the prospect that Iraq could be sliding toward civil war. Abizaid said, “I believe that the sectarian violence is probably is as bad as I’ve seen it in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.” Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “I believe we do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil war.”

Today at a press conference, President Bush dismissed these concerns out of hand. Bush said, “You know, I hear people say, Well, civil war this, civil war that. The Iraqi people decided against civil war when they went to the ballot box.”

More than one hundred Iraqi civilians are dying per day, mostly in sectarian violence, according to a recent U.N. report.

As Attaturk says:

...secession in the good ol' U.S. of A started in the wake of Mr. Lincoln being elected at the ballot box.

Following the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860, the South Carolina legislature calls a state convention that convenes on December 17, and on December 20 approves a proclamation to remove the state of South Carolina from the union. The secession of South Carolina is followed by the secession of six more states -- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Four additional states--Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina--delay acting on secession, but eventually join the others to make up the eleven states forming the Confederate States of America.

To paraphrase David Letterman, four-score & seven also happens to be Bush's IQ.

Bush May Have Broken the Law Multiple Times

The Bush administration may have broken over two dozen federal laws and regulations -- some of them multiple times -- according to an unreleased report from the House Judiciary Committee Democrats.

"The misconduct I have found is not only serious, but widespread," reads a draft summary of the report by Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI):

The laws implicated by the Administration’s actions include federal laws against making false statements to congress [sic]; federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other government employees; Executive Orders concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence; federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts of interest; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; communications privacy laws; the National Security Act; and the Fourth Amendment.