Oh my God! I finally get it!

Remember when aWol, a while back, sparked outrage by comparing himself to Truman?

People, he was right and we were wrong. We just had the wrong Truman in mind.

He is this Truman.

It hit me like a ton of bricks when I checked in on my friend Steve Benen this morning and read this...

It’s been more than seven years, but I still laugh when I look back at this classic satirical item from The Onion, in which George W. Bush assured the nation that “our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over.”

“My fellow Americans,” Bush said (in this fake-news item), “at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us.”

Of course, this piece, written four days before Bush’s first inaugural, proved to be rather prophetic. But in the meantime, whenever I see or hear references to “peace and prosperity,” I think of The Onion, and the strength and success Bush squandered.

I was reminded of it again this morning, listening to Bush’s speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“My energy is up, my spirit is high, and I will finish strong. And in the meantime, we will elect a new President. We’ve had good debates and soon we’ll have a nominee who will carry a conservative banner into this election and beyond. Listen, the stakes in November are high. This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance.”

Really? Does George W. Bush seriously want to argue that the nation should follow his direction in order to maintain “prosperity and peace”?

Where is this elusive “prosperity and peace”? And why is it hiding so well?

There is only one explanation - the bubble is opaque, and soundproof. It is a controlled and scripted environment and he is cluelessly performing for an audience, oblivious to the outside world.

Just like Truman.

Six hours later, and I'm still in shock

He just stood in front of the VFW and did a backflip with a 180 and stuck the landing - and nobody noticed! I actually think he freakin' believes his own bullshit!

After rejecting parallels with Vietnam, he is suddenly stripping to his skivvies and ready to climb into the sack with those very comparisons, albeit with a kinky twist. Now it seems he thinks that we should have stayed in Vietnam - you remember Vietnam - that was the war that he, draft-dodging, war-mongering, chickenhawk that he is - refused to fight, the draft he dodged - you remember Vietnam. I certainly do, and so do my aunt and uncle who lost their oldest son....And Veterans of that conflict embarrassed me today by clapping for that sonofabitch who so spectacularly failed the test back then.

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Mr. Bush said. "Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields."'

And the idiots who voted for this clown called Kerry a flip-flopper. None of you should EVER call a Democrat a flip-flopper in my presence again. Not with this fucking political gymnast representin' y'all.

Well - I am not the only one who was stunned speechless by the "say anything, what do I have to lose?" resident's speech. Noted UCLA historian Robert Dallek, who has written extensively about the conflict in Iraq as compared to Vietnam, accused Bush of playing fast and loose with history.

"It just boggles my mind, the distortions I feel are perpetrated here by the president," he said in a telephone interview.

"We were in Vietnam for 10 years. We dropped more bombs on Vietnam than we did in all of World War II in every theater. We lost 58,700 American lives, the second-greatest loss of lives in a foreign conflict. And we couldn't work our will," he said.

"What is Bush suggesting? That we didn't fight hard enough, stay long enough? That's nonsense. It's a distortion," he continued. "We've been in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II. It's a disaster, and this is a political attempt to lay the blame for the disaster on his opponents. But the disaster is the consequence of going in, not getting out."

So - will the mainstream media give him a[nother] pass, or will they finally call him on his delusional bullshit? What will you bet he gets a pass? But I think I have maybe figured out why...it is that he is just so fucking wrong, wronger than anyone has ever been, so wrong that in the history of incompetence and failure he gets a special category...That there is just an air of "Holy shit. Where do I even start???"

Well - enough already with the feeling overwhelmed. Pick a point and start making sense, and don't stop.

You know how I am always saying I love the smell of roast wingnut in the morning?

Well! Feast on Jim Webb putting Lindsey “I bought five rugs for five dollars” Graham in his place.

Graham kept repeating that he has been to Iraq seven times (on taxpayer-funded junkets that serve no purpose and only accomplish disrupting operations to accommodate the potentates) – and Webb – whose son served as a combat Marine in Iraq – did not mention the fact of his son's service.

He didn't have to. We all knew he was the one with moral authority without him having to turn over that card.

Webb took the high road and everyone watching knows it. “You go and see the dog-and-pony shows.” Webb scolded Graham, “Don’t put political words into [the soldier’s] mouth.”

Graham came off looking like nothing so much as a petulant, obstreperous, delusional, kool-aid swilling jackass. He kept pounding his finger on the desk and saying “let them win.”

Which is total horseshit. The only way for an occupying invader to *win* is to commit random slaughter and war crimes. We know this. Is Lindsey Graham advocating that U.S. G.I.'s commit war crimes?

And by the way Lindsey, just let me air a grievance, and I say this as someone with long and strong Air Force association - I bleed Strata Blue - I just can’t equate your time as a JAG lawyer in the Air Force during peace time with Senator Webb leading a Marine rifle company in Viet Nam; Senator Webb received multiple service commendations, not the least of which was the distinguished Navy Cross and two Purple Hearts.

They don't give those out for paper cuts, or hangovers caused by too much German beer, unfortunately for Lindsey.

I’ve been to Rhein Mein – it was decidedly not a hardship tour. In fact, it was a very popular billet back then.

Oh, hell – just watch Webb eviscerate the little weasel:

McCain takes a stroll outside the Green Zone

Desperate to shed the "doddering old fool" label that is sticking to him like a second skin, John McCain today took a stroll in Baghdad.

Wasn't quite unaccompanied tho' - he was in a flak-jacket, surrounded by a hundred heavily armed American troops and just for good measure, three Blackhawks and two Apache gunships were buzzing overhead.

About a mile away, six Americans were killed.

I wonder if some of them died because they were undermanned as a result of McCain's security detail?