Wow, do We Look Out of Touch...

Does the fact that 150,000+ people died at the hands of the Tsunami disaster last week damage the credibility of the Bushies claim that 3000+ dead Americans on 9/11/01 was a world-shifting event? You bet your ass it does. Especially when you consider that the most-populous Muslim nation on the planet (Indonesia) was hardest hit and the pathetic response we've thus far offered. Call our sacrifice on 9/11 whatever you might think it was - I still consider it a massive human tragedy - but Americans can in no way deny the trump card played by the Planet over the Holidaze. And on a more trivial level, having Jeb Bush and Colin Powell show up there was a foreign policy disgrace. Feel free to hate me for the strength of my comments, but we as a nation are immensely underserved in the court of international opinion when we look so intensely self-focused. I'm mean, seriously - Jeb Bush as our humanitarian embassador?! Outside of the most singularly partisan Republicans inside this insular nation's plutocracy, does anyone honestly believe he provides anything other than second-hand face-value credit for Dubya? Out of all the bad PR choices made in response to this tragedy, I forecast that this "assessment team" will damage us the most. Face it, people - Bush is a tone-deaf leader when it comes to perceptions of his actions outside this country. Read any foreign paper if you think I'm being unfair. Seriously, ANY PAPER, ANYWHERE in the world. We're getting worked over. And while Iraq is being ravaged by internal attacks, we couldn't do worse when it comes to the timing of our misguided approaches to tragedies scattered 'round the globe. Such events often come at the most unfortunate, most unfair times. But the responses our leaders fashion are, in all likelihood, what history will remember. At present, we're screwed.