November 12, 2008

True Colors

It all makes sense now, the crazy spending, the "Compassionate Conservatism," the ridiculous ROE in the war, the bungling of the overthrow of Saddam.

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said he regrets the display of the ``Mission Accomplished'' sign as backdrop for a speech he gave about a month after the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

``To some, it said, well, `Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over,' when I didn't think that,'' he said in a CNN interview today. ``It conveyed the wrong message.''

The sign was hung on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, when Bush landed on the carrier wearing a flight suit to declare that major combat operations in Iraq were over. That speech has since served as a rallying point for critics of Bush's policies in Iraq.

Bush also cited other regrets in the CNN interview, which was conducted aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York after a Veterans Day ceremony.

``I regret saying some things I shouldn't have said,'' Bush said. He cited comments he made after the Sept. 11 attacks, when he said of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden: ``I want justice. There's an old poster out West that said, 'Wanted, dead or alive.'''

He also said he regretted telling Iraqi insurgents in 2003: ``There are some who feel like that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on.''

President Bush. Your nation rallied to you because of those words. We fought for you in 2004 because of those words.

Men are dead because they believed in those words and enlisted in the armed forces. They heard you say "bring 'em on" and rose to the challenge that you yourself uttered.

And now you tell us that you regret saying them. Tell that to the men and women who died defending them, President Bush.

Our nation stands at the edge of the abyss, staring into the dark pit of Socialism. Another New Deal and Great Society debacle, or even worse, looms if the Senate is given over to a Democrat filibuster proof Senate.

And all you can do is say that you're sorry for saying things that unified us as a nation.

When you should be apologizing for "compassionate conservatism," and expanding the federal government in ways your predecessor never dreamed of. Or apologizing for not even vetoing one spending bill in your first term.

We fought for you, Bush, because you said these inspiring things, and now you regret saying them.

Guess who else says inspiring things? Barack Obama. I'd bet good money that when he leaves office, if he ever does, he won't bother regretting what he said.

Someone wake me in eight years. I'll be in an alcohol-induced coma.