Bushpalooza

One of the stops in President Bush's whirlwind Southeast Asian tour was Singapore, where he said, on free-trade agreements in a speech at the National University, "We hear voices calling for us to retreat from the world and close our doors to these opportunities...(T)hese are the old temptations of isolationism and protectionism, and America must reject them."

At first I was worried the rumors might be true about the Chief hitting the bottle, or perhaps he was back to receiving messages from the #1 Father. But the message itself leaves me a little confused: how does the above sentiment--rejecting isolationism--square with his intent to build the new 700-mile fence to wall off Mexico, our southern neighbor?

The AP article indicated that Bush was "directly challeng(ing) newly empowered Democrats in the U.S. who are demanding a fresh course in Iraq...." But to refrain from sticking your nose and guns into another country's politics is another thing entirely from engagement in the economic arena.

It was also reported that Bush banged a gong three times to signal the opening of the Ho Chi Minh stock exchange in Vietnam Monday. Money's money, after all.