There, I said It By: Mark W Adams

Tuesday: 2 GIs, 53 Iraqis Killed, 42 Wounded

Dean Esmay has a point. George W. Bush did not invent extraordinary rendition, but he sure has taken the practice to new heights.

He didn't invent the death penalty, but setting records for using it isn't what I call progress. But George Bush is rather proud of this particular accomplishment.

Bush didn't invent the lame photo op with men and women in uniform as backdrop, but using the USS Abraham Lincoln was an extraordinary piece of political theater.

Bush didn't discover pre-emptive warfare, but he did establish the idea that a free, democratic society could start one. He gets double points for using lies and subterfuge to get things rolling.

He wasn't the first ne'er-do-well offspring of a powerful and accomplished man to use daddy's connections to gain a job he was completely incapable of doing, nor was he the first son to embarrass his father beyond belief -- but Junior took this to new levels as well.

He's also not the first President to have 76% of the people disapprove of the job he was doing, but never has anyone gone from the high 80's to this low -- ever.

Rendition is a quaint name for kidnapping. That'll get you 20 to life in most decent countries, but we aren't sending these folks to "decent" countries. According to the European Parliament report of February 2007, the CIA has conducted 1,245 flights, many of them to destinations where suspects could face torture, in violation of article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. (link)

I suspect, as one of the very few Bush Apologists still stupid enough to publicly defend a patently illegal act that this President continues to approve (even after the Administration's denial have been exposed as the lie they were) -- Dean is a very lonely, bitter man, and justifiably so.

And as for keeping the Party Line alive out there, winning the hearts and minds of America with this kind of neo-con poopery, you're doing a heckuvajob, Dean.