Nobody Thinks Anymore

Oh, Karl. Karl, Karl, Karl. You idiot. You Blowhard. You fat, fatuous, flatulent fool.

You are a disgrace to your party.

You are a disgrace to the White House.

You are a disgrace to the country.

Seriously. What were you thinking when you said, and I quote:

"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war. Liberals saw the savagery of 9/11 and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding to our attackers."

I mean, come ON! What were you thinking? Or were you thinking at all? I mean, do you seriously think anyone in this country wanted to get the 9/11 terrorists on a therapist's couch and discuss their inner child?

Frankly, I think that may be the problem. Nobody in the current administration thinks. Period.

Dick Cheney says the Iraq insurgency is "in its last throes", when, in fact, it's just as bad, if not worse, as it ever was.

Donald Rumsfeld goes in front of the Senate and states that the war in Iraq succeeded brilliantly, and that setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq "would throw a lifeline to terrorists who in recent months have suffered significant losses in casualties, been denied havens and suffered weakened popular support."

Let's pause momentarily to put that statement in perspective for a minute. Would you refuse to pull firemen out of a fire-engulfed building that is in imminent danger of collapsing? And would you justify that refusal by saying that to do so "would throw a lifeline to the fire"? And would you then say that anyone who critcizes your actions "doesn't support our firemen"?

Yes, folks. That seems to be the problem. No one is thinking in Washington. Or anywhere.

There's an old saying: "Make sure you load your brain before you shoot off your mouth."

O.K. maybe it's not an old saying. But it should be.

The problem is, too many people in this day and age speak without thinking. I certainly do, all too often. But it's usually not a problem for me, because hardly anyone listens.

But when you speak without thinking when someone is listening, trouble can result.

Of course, I'm sure Karl Rove knew exactly what the reaction would be to his ill-conceived remarks. The left would denounce it as shameless political pandering (which it is), and the wrongright would champion it as a shining example of quality public speaking (which it isn't).

And, of course, it represents the traditional defense thrown up whenever the Bush White House comes under attack: Invoke 9/11.

Memo to the White House: It happened almost four years ago. It's time to come up with something new!