Nice move, Mr. President

Normally, I don't think I'd approve of this, but congressional Democrats have been unreasonable and obstructionist for most of Bush's two terms.

President Bush used Congress’s Easter break today to defy Democratic lawmakers and appoint three officials who have already drawn heavy criticism on Capitol Hill.
[...]
Naming the three while Congress is in recess allows Mr. Bush to avoid the Senate confirmation process. The recess appointments allow the three to remain in their posts until the end of 2008, virtually the end of Mr. Bush’s second term.

Damned if you don't, damned if you do

This is why a President needs to ignore 98% of all criticism.

This past weekend, seemingly determined to get it right, he -- along with his PR crew -- hightailed it to Georgia and Alabama to express depict concern for a ready batch of storm victims. (The region had just been victimized by a violent tornado.)

Apparently, the visual geniuses at the White House saw a quick opportunity to "do over" the politically catastrophic images of Bush's Katrina fly-by. Certainly, this result (featured on Sunday's White House photo gallery) is a dramatic and detailed image, putting the President that much closer to the scene.

As much as pictures can be tweaked to make you look good, however, they can just as easily reveal your hand. Besides attempting to profit off the local misery, one has to wonder just how many potential relief dollars went into hiring a whole second helicopter just to ferry the camera man to visualize such compassion.

You just can't win with these idiots. Personally, if my town gets hit by a catastrophic disaster, I don't want any President, Democrat or Republican, there unless he is helping my neighbors dig my carcass out of the debris. Presidents do not need to go to disaster scenes to do their jobs, and if anything they get in the way of the recovery, even though the current expectation is that they go to empathize. But for asses like this, it is all about scoring points on a Republican president.

Squishy Joe

Sometimes the news amuses. Take the Joe Lieberman story for example. It seems that Lieberman would consider leaving the Democratic party if they voted to defund the war in Iraq. I'm watching and reading Republicans, conservatives even, who excitedly call for Lieberman to make the switch. These are some of the same people who pull their hair out at the likes of Lincoln Chaffee, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Spectre, and other Republicans who lean too far left. I like Lieberman, too, and I applaud his position on the war, but his changing parties wouldn't change much. His vote on war issues would remain the same. Control of the Senate would not necessarily flip to Republicans. And Lieberman would still vote Democrat on a number of issues. Seems like a wash to me.