Assigning blame

Dana Milbank looks at Bush's analysis of what went wrong for his party on Tuesday:

Karl Rove
Mark Foley
Ballot rules
Democrat's GOTV
Oh, and stoopid voters.

And, not least, he blamed the uncomprehending voters: "I thought when it was all said and done, the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security. But the people have spoken, and now it's time for us to move on."

Something vaguely know as "Iraq," he conceded at last, may have some effect, but it's hard to say.

But he seemed unsure how much to concede. He began by saying "Iraq had a lot to do with the election." He amended that to "Iraq had something to do with it." And finally he cited cases where "I'm not sure Iraq had much to do with the outcome." While he said "many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure" with Iraq, he looked puzzled when a reporter suggested that voters wanted the troops withdrawn. He said he was "making a change" at the Pentagon to respond to the voters, but he also said he was going to sack Rumsfeld "win or lose."

I know the punditocracy theme is going to be "the new Bush" and his new found embrace of bipartisanship (and even Nancy Pelosi). They will ignore the fact that he repeatedly lied to reporters on questions he could just as easily have ducked, and either he was lying about Democrats then (they want to turn the country over to al Qaeda) or now (they care deeply about American security and Iraqi freedom).

Trust me. It's going to be a nasty couple of years until this dangerous fool is retired to Crawford.