Air Force One Charges

Bush is giving a series of speeches geared to 'explain' what's going on in Iraq, and bolster support for his vanity war. He's been revving up the biblical references, spouting 'fascism' and generally waving his hands around to try to distract everyone from what's actually going on.

"They're not political speeches," he said. "They're speeches about the future of this country, and they're speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation would become even more in jeopardy. These are important times, and I seriously hope people wouldn't politicize these issues that I'm going to talk about."

Not political speeches? Huh? Aren't they about policy? Aren't they intended to influence opinion? Aren't they a call to action from his base to support him? Aren't they aimed at the public?

They're political speeches.

No matter what you say they are, the fact is, they are political. Of course they are. And he hopes that people won't politicize these issues? Just what kind of issues does he think they are, if not political?

But if anyone disagrees with him, he can accuse them of "being political", which he is wont to do. Oh no, he's not political, but if you actually expect answers from him than you are obviously political and partisan and unpatriotic.

Of course, by claiming that they aren't not political speeches, all of the travel is basically billed to the US taxpayer. All those Air Force One jaunts across the country are on the taxpayer's dime instead of being paid for by the GOP.