Demerit Badge


The Decider became "the listener" today, at least for public consumption, while no doubt aides to Karl Rove--and, who knows, maybe even Bush's Brain/Turdblossom himself--work furiously on coming up with something, anything, that might cover up the noxious stench that is Team Bush Middle East policy.

This paragraph

President Bush traveled to the State Department today as part of a round of consultations over how to reshape Iraq policy, saying that it was important that “when I do speak to the American people, they will know that I have listened to all aspects of government.”

made it even more evident that we've truly got a child in charge, at a time when we desperately need an adult to take over...and, worse still, it looks like it will be at least a couple of years before we've even got a chance to put a grown-up in office.

And, while Shrub--deservedly--earns the lion's share of my contempt, given that he's CONSISTENTLY chosen the easy, low, politically expedient road (NOT invading Iraq in 2003 would have been the "hard work" he brags about so goddamned much)...but, just to show a little bipartisan contempt, here's yer incoming Democratic Intelligence Committee chair

Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?

“Al Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”

“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Predominantly — probably Shiite,” he ventured.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.

Ouch. As Stein points out, Reyes earns a tidy $162,000 a year--for that kind of money, you'd expect him to, oh, I don't know, do a little research (or have his staff do the research and brief him...geez). Digby has more, including a link to a suggested pop quiz that, at least for me, defines the minimum level of political understanding I'd expect from someone...earning a six-figure salary as a public official who's job requires a good bit of understanding of gobal political issues...

Of course, if you read the entire Stein article (it's not all that long, and highly recommended), you'll notice that this sort of abject ignorance of the Middle East is most definitely a bipartisan matter, beginning with Shrub himself, and filtering throughout the GOP.

No wonder we're losing the war in Iraq.