President Bush's Speech to the Knesset

Congratulations to President Bush’s handlers for his May 15 remarks to the Israeli Knesset. In a single speech, the President managed to disregard world history, pander to the Jewish vote in America, give tribute to millionaire televangelist John Hagee, eschew the protocols of domestic politics and unite Democrats. It was quite an accomplishment:

-Confusing diplomacy with appeasement, George W. Bush demonstrated either astonishing ignorance or intentional distortion of the history of 1930s Europe

-With the term ‘appeasement’ – highly-freighted from the Israeli perspective – the President’s team chose an incendiary trope to frighten audiences in Jerusalem and at home

-The notion that Tehran poses an existential threat to Israel (and, somehow, to America) comes verbatim from the playbook of Christians United for Israel founder and John McCain endorser, John Hagee, whose 2006 best-seller, Jerusalem Countdown, states: "It's 1938, and Iran is Germany, and Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler of the Middle East."

-Injecting domestic politics into a foreign address, the President broke with long-established American protocol that “politics stop at the water’s edge,” (Arthur Vandenberg, R-MI).

Thus, the President confirmed that he sees himself not as President of the United States but, rather, as President of the Republican Party. He made this clear to our (remaining) allies and our enemies, alike.

-George W. Bush’s remarks were so toxic that he managed – in one fell swoop – to unite Democrats across the spectrum, cohesion the party had been lacking

It was a hole-in-one for our Duffer-in-Chief. The public owes kudos to his PR team for a speech which, at once, combined stunning historical ignorance with astute political genius.