1115.org

President Bush, speaking at the Osan Air Force base in South Korea on November 19, two days after Murtha’s speech:

“The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity…. If they’re not stopped, the terrorists will be able to advance their agenda to develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate Europe, and to break our will and blackmail our government into isolation.”

That’s pretty high-quality fear-mongering, for most ordinary politicians. But Bush admirers hold him to a higher standard. They were initially puzzled and dismayed over his failure to add: “and to poison our water, burn our farms and cities, rape our women, and sell our children into slavery.” But in hindsight it is recognized that there’s an obvious reason why he was so subdued in this speech: jet lag. Or as Bush himself might say, “In a word, jet lag!”