It is, given the circumstances, beyond irony that when Shrub was given the Presidency by the Supreme Court in 2000, everyone said something like "he's an idiot, but Cheney will keep him in line."

Too bad the people close to Cheney didn't speak up about his true nature, isn't it? A cunning idiot for president, guided by one of the most dangerous crackpots American politics has ever produced.

This type of effort is the beauty of the internet in action. I really feel after reading Blumenthal that I have insight and analysis into politics and foreign affairs. This article in fact brought the Congress of the US right into my home.

The people's business used to be something only weekly news shows provided. But now, I have a columnist who gives me this vital information much more timely and with much more depth.

I now know that elected representatives are not an incompetent, arrogant and down right abusive sort. Unlike the current President, who is without a doubt a man without any talents at all!, they actually have an ethic and a sensitivity to concerns that matter.

Great job Mr. B. Excellent work.

Viva la Salon!

In response Bush telescoped the entire

tragic history of the Vietnam War and

Johnson's agonies into slogans, slurring

Johnson's patriotism in order to create

a contrast with his own.

Seems entirely appropriate. The Vietnam tragedy took over 20 years to unfold, from Eisenhower sending advisors in the wake of France's withdrawal in 1954 to the helicoper rescue from the roof of the US Embassy in 1975. The Bush Iraqnam farce has gone on for 4 years and we're already well into the Nixonian stages, Henry Kissenger and all.

Maybe George Bush has lost his hearing as well as his mind. The drumbeat from much of the Republican Party grows louder and more ominous every day. Across the political spectrum, members of the president's party realize that their electabilty and their viability require that they distance themselves from him and his policies. While there is frequent discussion of the power of the presidency, George Bush seems to have lost his grasp on the reality that the power of the executive is still political at its source. His refusal to engage with the real world is draining his political batteries at an unprecedented rate.

This is highly enriched fissile material and it is approaching critical mass.

There is an intervention of some kind on the horizon. It will have its source among his "friends and family" in the Republican Party, the Conservative Establishment and/or the military. There is no telling what the precipitating event might be. This intervention will manifest itself as dramatic change in the executive branch, with Dick Cheney taking an early retirement, probably for "reasons of health" and a competitive candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination confirmed by the Senate as the new Vice President. At that point, the future prospects for the Republican/Conservative interests could at least avoid certain destruction. And George Bush would be relegated to a position from which he could be ignored, impeached or "retired" with only minimal negative impact on future elections.

Babs & Herbert Walker finally got their revenge on the Reagans: they inflicted their son on the Reagan Revolution.

John McCain?

Joe Lieberman?

No, Colin Powell!

...they might very well wish to dump Bush and Cheney and replace them with some nice up and coming Republicans. But they'll have to get it past the Democrats now. And politically, the Democrats have no reason to want Bush and Cheney to leave. Certainly none of the Democratic candidates for president (and they are many) would want to give the Republicans a 'do-over' in the presidency. For their own purposes, they would want Bush and Cheney to be in office on election day, November 2008.

If the Republicans really wish to dump Bush and Cheney, they are probably going to have to accept Nancy Pelosi as president. However, that move might also be blocked by the Democratic presidental candidates, most particularly the junior Senator from NY.

Hence it looks to me like the Republicans are just going to be stuck with B&C for the next two years. And nobody will cry more about it than they will.

The other possibility is that B&C might pull a fast one and resign.

From Amazon on "Being There"

" A modern classic now available from Grove Press, Being There is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. It is the story of Chauncey Gardiner - Chance, an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy adviser, and a media icon. Truly "a man without qualities," Chance's straightforward responses to popular concerns are heralded as visionary. But though everyone is quoting him, no one is sure what he's really saying. And filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible. Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever."

The next great column from Kamiya, Blumenthal, etc will discuss Bush as the real life Chauncey Gardiner, the man who has no authentic thoughts of his own, a "man without qualities", a modern day Rorschach Test in which everyone (mostly on the right and center) invested their own vision and desire.

But the truth is, there is no "there" there as the ship of state careens wildly on the sea.

I'm reminded of Asimov's "Foundation" when the "mule" appears, the wild card not forseen by Hari Seldon and the room breaks into a panic. Tragically we are at that space.

Welcome, America, to the depth of your shadow.

My hope is that we will make it through, but life often dispenses tough love.

One minor correction to this excellent piece by Sidney Blumenthal. This is actually Bush's seventh State of the Union address. Hard to believe that we have put up with them for so long. After this, only one more to go.