There Are No Embarrassing Questions, Only Embarrassing Answers

"Sheehan's vigil near the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch is likely to continue until the end of Bush's extended vacation without reaching resolution. Unless you count embarrassing a president who badly needed embarrassing. In which case, Sheehan's demand for a meeting has already been a smashing success."

-- "A question that needs to be answered" by Leonard Pitts, Jr., the Miami Herald

"Why I ridiculed the President was, he refuses to answer questions from adults, as though we were adults, and falls back upon platitudes and phrases and talking points, that does a disservice to the goals that he himself shares with the very people he needs to convince."

-- Jon Stewart on last night's Daily Show, during an interview with author Christopher Hitchens (about the only human being I've ever heard make the Iraq war sound like it makes any sense at all).

I have been amazed at the guts Stewart has shown recently in having on several guests that I never would have expected, such as Rick Santorum and Trent Lott, who turn out to be actual thinking, feeling human beings (however misguided their actions). It's easy to demonize people you disagree with, but to his credit, Stewart honestly engages in conversation with them, and even works to find common ground. Best of all, he quickly reveals who has a sense of humor about themselves and who doesn't, one of the best gauges of true character.

Soldier's Mom Demands Answers

President Bush's peaceful vacation of brush clearing has been interrupted this week by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq in a helicoper crash last year. She has camped herself outside his Crawford TX "ranch" until he agrees to meet with her, face-to-face, and explain the exact reason for the war that took her son's life.

Brave lady. I can imagine if my son died this way, I would want to do the same thing but I honestly don't know if I'd actually follow through with it like she has.

Today, his motorcade passed by her and the whole group of people that have gathered with her, on the way to a $2 million RNC fundraising barbecue, but didn't slow down. She was holding up a sign that said "Why do you make time for donors and not for me?"

Bush: The Vacation President

Today, President Bush heads for a five-week stay at his Crawford Estate (a ranch is property with livestock on it, which his is not -- can't the man even shoot straight about his house? Guess not). According to the Washington Post, Bush will now have spent 20 percent of his presidency on vacation, and with this stay will break Ronald Reagan's two-term record of 335 vacation days -- in a mere 4 1/2 years! The man is a relaxation genius.

The Average Man would say we're better off without him actually in the White House making decisions and things, but it was during his brush-clearing retreat of August 2001 that he ignored a Presidential Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.".