This man is a nuts

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I would say the same for the Bush Administration. Bush had what appeared to be one of the sharpest foreign policy teams ever assembled. They thought that going into Iraq was the right thing to do. They were a very bright team that used their best judgement. In hindsight, it looks like they made a bad decision. I'm not going to bash them for it though. If we had done nothing and then Saddam ended up with nuclear weapons in 10 years from now and he used them, we'd be asking why we didn't take him out when we could have back in 2001.

Rupert, I have to respectfully disagree. I think Bush's foreign policy team was driven by idealogy, not any sort of grasp of how things work in the real world. They were bound and determined on this course from the moment they got into office, and in their attempt to force Western-style democracy upon the Middle East they completely destroyed the infrastructure of one of the few semi-secular nations there (yes, yes, tyrant I know-- have you checked into human rights and Saudi Arabia lately? The human rights argument wears thin in light of with whom we choose to ally ourselves) and provided fertile breeding ground for terrorists motivated by religious zealotry, which, as we know, is a bad, bad thing. (Two churches burned down here in the USA recently by Christian zealots, by the way. Churches. Zealotry always bad.) And what about the post-invasion plan, or rather, complete lack of one? That wasn't an honest mistake, that was plain bad governing. And our soldiers are paying for it with their lives.

And I respectfully disagree on Dems and Repubs being the same on domestic issues. I think they are very far apart there. (Which is not to say I don't think that both sides come across as utterly useless on many occasions.. )

But hey, at least the Dems are bringing back the five-day workweek (well, really more of a four-and-a-half day week), instead of the three-day one the last Congress enjoyed. Not much, but it's a start. If they ditch the month vacation in August, I'll really know they're serious. For a Congress that claimed to be so anti-French, they sure liked to vacation like them...