Lame duck – no turkee!

by Erin Alecto

Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on his way to Australia for this year’s Asia-Pacific Summit where he is expected to embarrass the US yet again as he bumbles through meetings shouting “Free Trade,” before stuffing his face with dinner rolls and snarling at reporters. Lest you think this Iraq trip is just another photo op, Tony Snow’s replacement begs to differ:

"There are some people who might try to deride this trip as a photo opportunity," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "We wholeheartedly disagree."

See? You couldn’t be more wrong. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley adds:

...Bush wanted to hear personally from commanders and from al-Maliki himself.

"There is no substitute for sitting down, looking him in the eye, and having a conversation with him," Hadley said. "The president felt this is something he had to do in order to put himself in a position to make some important decisions."

There you go. Bush just wants to look Maliki in the eye and make an informed decision. Why not? It worked so well with Putin. In any case, I wonder if the Marine pilot who told Bush that despite the troops’ lack of training and too-short times between deployments that “morale is high” was carrying one of these:

In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."

What would Bush’s thumbnail say? “Kiss butt or die,” maybe? Remember, Bush has a legacy to consider:

But in an interview with a book author in the Oval Office one day last December, he daydreamed about the next phase of his life, when his time will be his own.

First, Mr. Bush said, “I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.” With assets that have been estimated as high as nearly $21 million, Mr. Bush added, “I don’t know what my dad gets — it’s more than 50-75” thousand dollars a speech, and “Clinton’s making a lot of money.”

Good luck with that, George. If the speculation about your not even being invited to the next Republican National Convention are true, you won’t be spotted a pulled-pork sandwich at the Iowa State Fair in a couple years. Who knows? Maybe future historians will write about your genius; not that it matters much. We’ll all be dead.