Here are two interesting articles in the L.A. Times by one of my favorite political analysts — which is not to say I agree with everything he writes — Ronald Brownstein. In this one, he discusses the political risks for George W. Bush in the handover of just whatever it is we just handed over to Iraq. And in this one, he discusses Bill Clinton's legacy and suggests that its finer points are the kinds of things that Conservatives either don't notice or don't care about.
You'll need to register to read articles over at the Times. If you don't want to give them your real e-mail address, get an extra one at some site like Hotmail or Yahoo and use that for such sign-ups. Or even easier, let a lasagna-loving cat deliver your mail by signing up for a free account at e-Garfield.
Also: A couple of folks sent me links to news reports wherein Bush's 9/11 conduct is defended by the principal of the school where he was appearing when the planes hit. Here's one and here's another…and I don't think she makes a very good case for the man. Is the argument here really that it was more important for the President of the United States to not panic 40 children than it was for him to find out more about an attack on this country that was currently taking place and to determine if he maybe, like, could or should do something? Or that there was no way he could have gotten out of the room swiftly without panicking them? Or that maybe the children might wind up being panicked anyway over what was going on? Or that he didn't wonder if maybe he was about to be the target of an attack and shouldn't be near those kids? Or that…well, you get the idea.
I still find it mind-boggling. When the rest of us heard that airplanes were being flown into skyscrapers in New York, we rushed to turn on the news and learn all we could. The man most responsible for national defense sat in a classroom (where he probably shouldn't have been in the first place) and took his own sweet time finding out what was going on. I keep thinking I must be missing something; that there was some logical explanation for his lack of prompt action. Someone, please, point me to it.