President Bush goes into reruns

The president's State of the Union Address on Tuesday had an eerie Rod Serling quality.

There he was, receiving the ovation of lawmakers, spelling out his vision for fighting terror and spreading freedom by promoting democracy.

Like nothing ever happened.

Like the ship hadn't ever hit the iceberg.

Like it was all starting over again.

Creepy.

If you've just joined us, as the president apparently has, we overthrew the Taliban in Afghanistan, invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein, promoted democratic elections in Iran, pressured Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, and forced the Palestinians to hold free elections.

So far, not so good.

Afghanistan is producing an opium harvest so robust that farmers there may have to lobby Congress to require it as a fuel additive, just to keep the excess crop from depressing prices.

Saddam Hussein is the star of his own show on Sharia Court TV.

Iraq freely elected a mix of Hatfields and McCoys and wrote a constitution that reads like a network promo for "Fear Factor."

Iran banned all moderate candidates from the ballot and then elected a charismatic young leader who promptly came out for the destruction of the state of Israel and the development of a nuclear bomb.

Israel evicted tearful Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip so the homes they had lived in for decades could be bulldozed.

The Palestinians freely elected a parliamentary majority of Hamas terrorists sworn to the destruction of Israel and received a congratulatory telephone call from the government of Iran.

Today, Israeli riot police bashed the heads of rock-throwing Jewish settlers who refused to leave an unauthorized settlement in the Gaza Strip, part of the deal Israel agreed to under the White House's Road Map to Peace, which apparently runs right by the Bates Motel. Possibly a chain of Bates Motels.

President Bush fights on, undaunted.

He's sticking to his story, that we had to remove Saddam before he got nuclear weapons and gave them to terrorists who would use them against us and our friends in the Middle East.

In the parallel universe of reality, Iran is building a nuclear weapon and openly forging an alliance with Hamas.

Rod Serling would be proud.


Copyright 2006


.