A ruinous legacy

(How tragically true and prescient this Nation cover illustration was, eight years ago.)

Sadly, I don't think we've seen yet the complete ramifications of the destructive eight-year administration of George Bush.

Bush has brought America to its knees.

And despite the delusion that Condi Rice is trying to peddle, I think history will judge Bush harshly, and even discover that his actual election was fraudulent in 2000, and possibly in 2004 as well. In the short term the picture is clear, our reputation, our Constitution, our liberty, our economy, our reliability - all in ruins, or at the very least tattered and in disrepair.

In today's New York Times, Bob Herbert calls out the Texas bully. You know what happens when you stand up to a bully. The bully disappears.

AN ADDENDUM: Talk about re-writing history, check this out.

Now that's diplomacy

Condi Rice demonstrated her skill as Secretary of State by mocking and taunting Moqtada al-Sadr. Of course, she works for the guy who famously taunted insurgents with the line "bring it on."

She said: "He is still living in Iran. I guess it's all out war for anybody but him. His followers can go to their death and he will still be in Iran."

The result was one of the worst nights of fighting recently in and around Sadr City.

You see, Condi can taunt al-Sadr from the relative safety of the Green Zone while American and Iraqui soldiers have to deal with the rebellious Shites.

What next? Insulting al-Sadr's mother? Condi: "Moqtada, your mama's so fat that Osama bin Laden is hiding in her navel."

It's whining time again

How did we ever get stuck with Creepy Joe Lieberman AND Crybaby Chris Shays?

Oh that's right. We voted them into office.

Extraordinary lack of contrition for extraordinary rendition

It hasn't been a fun few days on the hill for Condi Rice. First a Code Pink protester confronted her with bloody hands and accused her of war crimes.

Then the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee led by Henry Waxman accused her and the State Department of being lax with government contractors because corruption is rife.

Then poor Condi had to admit that the extraordinary rendition of Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Saudi Arabia, where he was imprisoned and tortured, was not handled how it should have been.

And....

The other shoe did not drop. No apology was issued.