The Bush Press Conference, in a Nut Shell

President Bush held a press conference last night to tell the American people why we should continue to support the war in Iraq (because failure there would be unthinkable--true, despite the massive pile-ups of failure upon failure since the end of the first Gulf War), why going to war there was the right thing to do despite the lack of WMD (because Saddam Hussein was a dangerous man in the most dangerous part of the world; the same worn-out talking point his administration has tirelessly trotted out to every Sunday morning news show going back to December), why we should re-elect him in November (because he has a plan for winning the war on terrorism, or at least he has a time table and hopefully a list of actionable items, but certainly no specifics at this time). Stick with me, he tells us, and democracy will ring through Middle East cash registers in no time.

And then, the next day, he announces support for Isreal's unilateral decision to leave certain Jewish settlements in the West Bank--a decision that goes against his own administration's "roadmap" for peace.

So let's hear it for planning!