Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

GWB is in Indonesia, and he's successfully "shrugged off protests that greeted him in the world's most populous Muslim nation, calling it a sign of a healthy democracy," so reports the Associated Press.

Now that's really a strange thing to say, when here in the homeland we must restrict protests to zones far from his physical presense at an event. It is also strange since GWB has frequently equated protest at home as comforting the enemy and unpatriotic, yet in Indonesia, he sees it as healthy.

The president further states that these protests "happen(s) when you make hard choices." Wrong, Mr. President. These protests erupt over your making illegal decisions affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of people. News flash: we expect our leaders to make the hard decisions; it's just nice if these are connected to reality.

The president stopped in Indonesia for only 6 hours and will not spend the night, "the result of safety jitters in a place where anti-Bush emotions run hot."

This too is extraordinary, since the 3rd U.S. Infantry is being returned for its third year-long stay to an environment that is extremely anti-Bush. Unfortunately, they don't have an easy escape route like GWB does. They must stay the course.

The President won't spend the night in a threat environment, yet he commands the troops to years of daily and nightly terror in just such settings.