This Is Not A Leak

We're here! Yesterday afternoon, just as the bleak, dank November dusk began to settle over this part of the planet, we arrived at a location that will remain undisclosed. That last part should be proof-positive that I don't work for the CIA.

And as soon as we did arrive, we immediately went out for dinner. Which would have been fine except that we had a late lunch at which I made a major raid on the salad bar, and the combination left me in a condition that can only be described as "beached."

Needless to say, I stuck to a light breakfast this morning. Light for me, anyway.

A brief skim of this morning's headlines led me to this howler from Senate Minority Leader "Dirty Harry" Reid:

On this Veterans Day, the President had the opportunity to honor our troops, both those who have served and those who are currently serving, by laying out a clear strategy for success in the war in Iraq. Instead, the President resorted to his old playbook of discredited rhetoric about the war on terror and political attacks as his own political fortunes and credibility diminish. [emphasis added]

Who writes this pap for him? Honest to goodness, this is the worst case of projection I've ever seen. And the motivation for it - Bush finally, well, "nuking" the "discredited war rhetoric" of his desperate, loony critics - clearly has Reid and his cohorts not just "concerned," given the condition of their own political fortunes and credibility, but outright indignant. As though Dubya is straying from his Donk-assigned role of designated punching bag and Senator Fife is trying to bully the President back into line.

It does illustrate one bit of canniness on the Dems' part, though - they didn't let the White House's tardy rejoinder sit out there in the public ether unanswered. Perhaps if GDub had followed that same example, a rejoinder wouldn't have been necessary at all.

Hopefully that's a lesson that Bush has finally taken to heart - and won't soon forget.