Iran’s a destabilizing force. And instability in that part of the world has deeply adverse consequences, like energy falling in the hands of extremist people that would use it to blackmail the West. And to couple all of that with a nuclear weapon, then you’ve got a dangerous situation. … That’s what I mean by strategic thought. I don’t know how you learn that. I don’t think there’s a moment where that happened to me. I don’t know that there’s a moment, Robert. I really — You either know how to do it or you don’t.

Think about that for a moment. The press enabled the social promotion of a baffoon unfit to run a taco stand into the White House. Why? The Very Important Professional People at the Post, the Times et al held the accomplished Al Gore to a higher standard than obvious slacker George Bush.

It is said that there is a fool born every minute. Clearly there were no fools born for at least an hour after W was born. Humanity needed that much time to take up the slack.

I choose the latter.