The 5 Steps to Do Do

When you are in deep doo-doo, you do do strange things:

1. DEPLOY GUNS AND BADGES.....Under the banner of homeland security, the White House plans to seek more funding for an extremely visible enforcement crackdown at the Mexican border, including a beefed-up force of agents patrolling on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). "It'll be more guys with guns and badges," said a proponent of the plan.....

I guess he didn't see all those people in the streets of almost every major city a few weeks ago. This seems like the stupidest thing in the world. I would have thought a rational immigration plan would go over with everybody, including the owners of all those industries that make use of cheap labor. What do I know.

2 MAKE WALL STREET HAPPY. In an effort to curry favor with dispirited Bush backers in the investment world, the Administration will focus on two tax measures already in the legislative pipeline--extensions of the rate cuts for stock dividends and capital gains....

Excuse me. Excuse me. While it is true that 1% of the population has benefited extraordinarily in the last five years, could I remind you of something? 1% doesn't win a lot of elections! The middle class is pissed off. The lower class is in despair. Maybe NOW they'll vote.

3 BRAG MORE. White House officials who track coverage of Bush in media markets around the country said he garnered his best publicity in months from a tour to promote enrollment in Medicare's new prescription-drug plan. So they are planning a more focused and consistent effort to talk about the program's successes after months of press reports on start-up difficulties. Bolten's plan also calls for more happy talk about the economy....

Wow! Reminds me of a song from South Pacific. The only happy people in the economy are at the top. Again, you don't win elections with 1%.

....They also plan to highlight any glimmer of success in Iraq, especially the formation of a new government, in an effort to balance the negative impression voters get from continued signs of an incubating civil war.

This is just mind boggling. What do they expect? A miracle? This may be a smoke screen for saying that the whole problem has always been Iran and we need to "take them out." But to think that Iraq will evolve into anything more stable in the short run is just pure idiocy (why am I not surprised that they think this?)

4 RECLAIM SECURITY CREDIBILITY. This is the riskiest, and potentially most consequential, element of the plan, keyed to the vow by Iran to continue its nuclear program despite the opposition of several major world powers....

There is one thing that stands out above all else in the Iran question. Russia has come out strongly in support of Iran (one of the "major world powers"). Russia still has lots and lots of nuclear weapons. Do we want to go eyeball to eyeball with Mr. Putin? I don't think so.

5 COURT THE PRESS. Bolten is extremely guarded around reporters, but he knows them and, unlike some of his colleagues, is not scared of them. Administration officials said he believes the White House can work more astutely with journalists to make its case to the public, and he recognizes that the President has paid a price for the inclination of some on his staff to treat them dismissively or high-handedly....

Every time Bush opens his mouth it is a disaster. When he went unscripted he was unintelligible. The World needs less of our boy king, not more. As for Scott McClellan, he has been a broken record for the past year. His "Cannot comment about an ongoing investigation, but the President believes that X is innocent...". And now, and now, Ta Da:

His (Bolton's) first move, working with counselor Dan Bartlett, was to offer the press secretary job to Tony Snow of Fox News radio and television....

Just what the Country needs, George W. Bush channeled through Fox news. Oh, wait. That's been happening for almost six years.

What we really need from this Administration is a little honesty.