Bush: Torture is A-OK

Wake me on Jan. 20.

That's Australian for a thumpin', mate

Australian voters put a smackdown on Prime Minister John Howard, one of President Bush's most stalwart international supporters. The opposition Labor Party didn't just run against the war in Iraq:

Rudd has named global warming as his top priority, and his signing of the Kyoto Protocol will leave the U.S. as the only industrialized country not to have joined it. (link)

Just how much more isolated can the United States become?

We have seen the president, and he is us

The Post-Gazette's Early Returns column brings this quote to my attention:

H. L. Mencken: As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The grand and glorious day has arrived, Mr. Mencken.

I've seen this movie before

Eric Alterman brings to our attention this Newsweek column by Fareed Zakaria, who is alarmed at the war drums the administration is beating louder and louder. He tries to put the Iranian "threat" into perspective:

Here is the reality. Iran has an economy the size of Finland's and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?

It's George Bush's planet, Mr. Zakaria. We just live on it.

Maybe he could challenge the president to a spelling bee

I understand the Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address was given by a 12-year-old boy. Finally, a rhetorical contest in which the president has a fighting chance.

Pot luck

The ABD has obtained an internal Ravenstahl administration document. Meanwhile, those of you who watched the president's address to the nation Thursday may recall that the president said that 36 nations have troops in Iraq. If that number seemed a bit high to you, you're not alone. (Thanks to the Newshoggers.)

I certainly hope they didn't forget Poland.

The last full measure of devotion

When I read this story, I couldn't help but remember that the First Lady once said, when told that the American people were suffering from the Iraq War, that "no one suffers more than the president and I do."

Double Talk Express

I hate to get all South Carolina on John McCain, but is it really right for his aides to be making not-so-vieled references to Barack Obama's past drug use, given that McCain's wife was once addicted to pain killers?

You'll note that the writer of the blog to which I linked interpreted McCain's correction of Obama's spelling of "flak jacket" as a jab at Obama for having not served in the military. I certainly hope that's not how McCain meant it. Because John Kerry served in combat during Vietnam, and George W. Bush avoided combat by serving in the Texas and Alabama Air National Guards.

Which candidate did McCain support in 2004?