I give up on this President.

I'm gonna puke.

This is why:
"WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush laid out a strong case for staying in Iraq Thursday, saying it is imperative to change the conditions in that part of the world. In his first news conference at the White House since July 12, Bush argued U.S. intervention in Iraq will make the world safer in the long run. "There is no question (the Iraqi government) hasn’t made as much progress as I would have hoped," Bush said, noting what a difficult task it is for a new democracy to gain its footing after years of tyranny. "Does it matter whether there is a self-governing entity in Iraq in the region that is an ally in the war on terror? … Does it matter to your children? It does matter. It does matter because enemies that would like to do harm to the American people would be emboldened by failure.” Bush said there has been debate over whether the danger to the United States is real. "I strongly believe that is the case,” he said, adding that it is our job to work to change the conditions that moved 19 kids to come on airplanes to murder our citizens. … I could not send a mother’s child into combat if I did not believe it was necessary." (Subvet: The emphasis is mine.)

I look at terming the murdering scum of 9/11/01 as "kids" just another example of moral equivalance. When someone starts doing that my back hair rises.

Maybe it's a small thing. Trouble is, there have been too many "small" things out of wack with this President over the past several years. They've included labeling citizens patrolling our southern borders as "vigilantes", insisting Islam is a "religion of peace", constantly bucking the will of the American people as regards immigration control and turning a blind eye to any shenanigans by the House of Saud.

Up till now I've ceded the President the benefit of the doubt. He's been under constant attack on all levels ever since the election of 2000 and that will tell on a man after a while. His supporters quite often have been there for the good times and never the bad. He's had a hell of a time in office and I still believe that. So I've cut a lot of slack when evaluating his performance and statements. But this takes the cake.

Terminology means a lot. It's why so many of us continue to use the term "illegal alien" rather than "undocumented worker". It's why "terrorist" has a bigger semantic punch than "insurgent". Though it might seem small potatoes to use the term "kids" it sends up a red flag in me. Because once we start thinking of them as "kids" it's a short step to feeling "it wasn't their fault" and "they just didn't know any better". We start hearing justifications that include more financial aid and less military response. Wouldn't that be a part and parcel of changing those conditions? Pretty soon we'll be kissing their unwashed asses as we learn how to prostrate ourselves toward Mecca.

Sorry, this isn't the same man that stood on the rubble of the WTC telling the crowd there that soon the whole world would be hearing from them.

November of 2008 can't come soon enough.

(Thanks to tammybruce.com for the article)