All wordplay aside, I find it amazing that Bush's intellect is so limited or his memory so short that he cannot recall that he was the one who so blatantly ignored advice of military commanders before and during the military operation in Iraq.

I can only hope that the American people's memory is better.

Perhaps the better question is, why am I still amazed by Bush's juvenile and totally unbalanced perception of himself and his actions?

"Nancy Pelosi is trying to push back against George W. Bush's assertion that Congress is substituting its own judgment for that of the commanders on the ground in Iraq by arguing that Congress is, in fact, substituting its judgment for the president's."

The argument presupposes that Bush has judgment to replace. On the evidence, well . . .

Now why or why couldn't Nancy speak like this two years ago? Granted, better later than never, but come ON! Why couldn't Kerry say things like this? Why couldn't Reid say things like this? Maybe because they didn't know yet which way the political winds blew. Perhaps because they were concerned with their own hold on power. They could be right: they would've done nobody any good if they went down burning in 2004, but you know, something tells me it would've been a gamble that paid off. After all, people voted for the manly man image.

Eh, who knows? All that is happening in a parallel Universe at this point. We're stuck with this version of events. So hey, at least we can have some fun watching the Decider stomp his foot on the ground and sputter. "But but but Nancy! I'm the commander guy! I don't like playing with you no more, you mean!" Heh.

....as long as you can fire commanders at will when they disagree with you.

(how in hell have we tolerated this imbecile for so long? Even if he's always pandering to his right-wing nutball base, this is just getting ridiculous. How long do we allow this mostly southern, utterly antebellum-in-spirit, right-wing, nut-case voting block of foolish white males to run the entire country? If we don't stop this shit the South really will have won, finally, if it hasn't already. Every time Shrub opens his idiot mouth, he's talking to that block of southern, white, male voters...even if a lot of them live in the West and Midwest... these people and their "values" --such as they are--shouldn't be running anything, let alone a country supposedly founded on Enlightenment principles, however flawed. Phooey.)

I listened to the clip of him saying this, and it didn't sound to me like a colloquial expression of his "Commander in Chief" title. Rather, by saying, "I'm the commander guy," he seemed to be saying, "I side with our commanders, not Congress."

That said, he doesn't side with our commanders. He hires commanders that side with him.

I heard a clip from this speech yesterday on NPR, and I honestly thought he said "a" instead of "the," as in "I'm a commander guy." I still cringed, but I am not quite sure that he was referring to himself as "the commander guy." I think that he meant to say that he falls on the side of supporting a commander, rather than Congress, making these decisions, but his casual and sloppy speaking style didn't seem to identify himself as "the" only commander (especially considering the plural use of "commanders" in the previous sentence). Of course, I am sure there was a certain implication in his statement, but could someone go back and check the audio to make sure the transcription is correct? The man is still a nightmare who should not be "a" commander, but I also hope that the media is being accurate in the way they report this story.

for the "commander guy" to start designing and wearing his own military uniform. Something with big bulky gold epaulets and a row of ribbons the size of a license plate, and a hat with some sort of elaborate plumage sticking out of it. Maybe he'll even invent his own special salute.

I didn't hear the sound clip, but maybe he said "I'm Commander Guy." Perhaps he thinks he's a super-hero, and his suit has tights to go with the gold shoulder thingies(as I imagine he'd call them)that someone else mentioned.

Of course, he's not a very good super-hero, but that's quite another matter.

and things like this escape all I can image is Commander Wrong Way Peachfuzz from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show. I imagine some totally insane "commander" pointing always in the wrong direction then heading in a totally opposite direction and never quite getting to his desired location. All Bush needs is Cheney's half-smile and Napoleon-type head gear. Full speed ahead shrub. What a clown...

This was actually bothering me enough that I went to the audio archive on the White House website. This is what I hear: "And as you know, my position is clear...I'm a...I'm a commander guy." A more accurate transcription would be "I'm...uh...I'ma commander guy." (I deliberately made "I'ma" one word, but a liaison mark between 'm' and 'a' would be the best phonetic representation of what he said.)

But the so-called liberal media can't be blamed for this one. The transcript on the White House website reads "I'm the commander guy." Of course, they leave out the "I'm uh..." part and make it look like he didn't stumble over his words.

While I was searching the audio archive for this gem of a quote, I noticed how desperate GWB sounds. He kept talking about how he needs to "explain to the American people" his position, but the constant use of the third person suggests that yesterday's audience isn't part of "the American people." He seems to be aware that "the American people" disagree with him, but I am not sure what label he uses to identify those few remaining citizens who are "with him," rather than against him (in other words, the few safe havens where he chooses to make public speeches). All the while, he sounds like some of the less skilled high school debaters I encountered years ago in forensics competitions. He repeats himself, subtly changing his words because he's not sure what he really means, but never realy says anything new or substantiated. In other words, he never would have made it out of the preliminary round of any halfway decent debate tournament.