"Just Tell Me What To Sign, Radar":
In the end, after all the violence and mayhem, perhaps the most disgusting image last week was George Bush, visiting Fort Hood because it was convenient to his vacation ranch in Crawford, TX, saying, "It was a tough week last week." He added, "And my prayers and thoughts are with those who pay the ultimate price for our security" before returning to the luxury of the ranch to entertain visitors. Perhaps it belabors the point, made many, many places, to say that while the Marines were fighting against the people they're supposed to have liberated, Bush was playing. On Thursday, Bush was hosting a get-together at the ranch of hunting and fishing donors, including the NRA and Ducks Unlimited. The U.S. military was busy that day in Iraq, battling two of the three ethnic groups as "Iraq descended into bloody chaos."

Friday was a glorious day in Crawford, prime bass fishing weather, and, you know, when the smallmouth beckon, a leader of the "free" world must answer, so Bush tossed his line into the drink next to a cable TV fishing show host. The Marines began house-to-house searching in Fallujah for insurgents, a sadly futile exercise, since, well, everyone knew that they were surrounded by insurgents. Oh, and those Japanese citizens were kidnapped and threatened to be burned alive. The Japanese PM was, as far as we can tell, at work that day.

Oh, sure, he got "updates" and had "videoconferences" throughout the week and weekend (when he wasn't at the ranch, he was campaigning). Hell, he even cut the fishing short to take care of the nasty business of presidentin'.

At some point here, doesn't it seem even remotely logical that Bush is the least necessary president in generations? He's spent 233 days at the ranch. And, as previously noted, 40% of his presidency at his various retreats. That doesn't even count all the campaign appearances and faux "official appearances" which were really campaign stops. It means that no one gives a good goddamn whether he's there or not. Hell, even Col. Henry Blake on MASH, the fictional leader most analogous to Bush in his apprehension of the duties of the position, occasionally was really in charge instead of being granted the illusion of control.