ALMOST NOT ENTIRELY CLUELESS

Bush has just announced that we must remake the entire third world in order to feel safe in our own homes, and he has done so without sounding a single note of reluctance or hesitation. This overturns the nation’s fundamental stance toward foreign policy since its inception. Washington warned of "foreign entanglements." The second President Adams asserted that "we go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy." During the Cold War, even Republican presidents made it clear that we played our large role upon the world stage only to defend ourselves and our allies, seeking to changed the world by our example rather than by force. Maybe I'm misreading Bush — I'm writing this based on my notes, and without having had time to study the text — but sheesh.

--column at National Review Online by Peter Robinson, author of How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life

It's nice that Robinson's upset, but has he been in a coma the last couple of years? Is he saying that he just noticed the Bushies are imperialists?

*****

Peggy Noonan is another one with a slow learning curve:

The United States, the speech said, has put the world on notice: Good governments that are just to their people are our friends, and those that are not are, essentially, not.

Er, Peg? More than three years ago, the man said, "Over time it's going to be important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity. You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror." The world took notice of those words, Peggy, even if you were probably just paying attention to the manliness of Bush's shoulders.