Reason #4562 Why The Bush Administration Is Hurting America -- They Think He's in the Same League as Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy

Look closely at the book Karen Hughes is distributing on her "Muslim Nation Tour 2005" P.R. junket. Her 'Encyclopedia of Presidents' displays pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and...George W. Bush? What? Sorry, rightwingers, but only the most rabid, and clueless partisans would actually compare W. to George Washington. I thought Karen Hughes was going to the Middle East to promote America, not just George W. Bush. Bush is the most hated president internationally, so artificially propping him up in a poor attempt to re-build America's image is completely worthless.

Hughes is a terrible choice to represent America to the "muslim world." How the hell does some two-faced soccer mom -- who is little more than a professional spinner/liar extremely close to the most ethically challenged administration in US history -- get a job representing Americans to 1/3 of the world's population? Because once again, the Bushies care more about party loyalty than competence. Karen Hughes may be a perfectly nice lady, but what she's doing is not helpful. To go in front of crowds of Muslims and recite the overly simplistic Bush pro-war slogans ("to preserve the peace, sometimes my country believes war is necessary") and trying to teach people about the Muslim world (from our perspective) is absurd. Does anyone from Turkey need to hear "Turkey is also a country that encompasses people of many different backgrounds and beliefs"? No fucking shit! Why are you telling them that? And to go on and on about how much "faith" plays a part in American life? Sure it does. But when the overwhelming belief of Muslims is that the US War on Terror is little more than a Christian vs. Islam conflict, I think you might want a little more nuance in your speech. I KNOW that the Iraqi War is not about Christianity (it's about oil), but they don't understand that. Man, does the Bush Administration do anything right?

"If you set out to help bin Laden, you could not have done it better than Hughes." - Robert Pape, author of 'Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.'