Oh, that great coalition... Bush in denial

"The coalition:  tight, like my fingers!"

Ah, the great coalition isn't what it used to be: Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the coalition of countries that provided troops has fallen from 38 nations to 24, and the United States continues to shoulder the bulk of the outside responsibility and suffer most of the non-Iraqi casualties. Bush said allies want to get out as soon as Iraq can defend itself. "People want their troops home. But they don't want their troops home if it affects the mission," he said, although few countries have hedged their withdrawals. Asked if the coalition was crumbling, Bush said, "No, quite to the contrary. I think the coalition has been buoyed by the courage of the Iraqi people" in defying death threats to vote.

This guy's a genius.

More below the fold. 

Deadlines?  Who needs deadlines?

 

On neighboring Iran, Bush refused to set a deadline for the Iranians to accept a deal to halt their uranium enrichment program in return for economic incentives. Believing that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, Bush said the United States would ask the U.N. Security Council to seek sanctions against Tehran if it rejected the offer, but he indicated that would not happen soon.

"I mean, it takes awhile for things to happen in the world. ... There's a certain patience required in order to achieve a diplomatic objective," the president said.

The part in bold... well, um, is that a new Bushism?

And it's time to backpedal.  Privatization?  What's that?

 

Bush acknowledged that the private accounts would not solve Social Security's insolvency problem, and he refused anew to reveal how he would like to fix the system. Told that Democrats want him to spell out his proposal, Bush said, "I'm sure they do. The first bill on the Hill always is dead on arrival. I'm interested in coming up with a permanent solution. I'm not interested in playing political games."

Soliciting proposals from members of Congress, Bush pledged that "I will not take somebody's idea and use it as a political weapon against them."

A goldmine of wisdom, don't you think?

Comments

[Sandals]

At his press conference he kept emphasizing that permanent solution bit. How can he then just ignore that it doesn't deal with solvency at all? The mind boggles.

[Meteor Blades]

"I'm not interested in playing political games." Nope. He just can't understand how he's still not allowed to hand-deliver whatever his corporate and "think"tank cronies want him to without first having to deal with the damn process. Easy to see why that smirk goes into overdrive whenever he plumping for Middle East "democracy."