Administration’s temporary insanity continues

Gene Lyons

Posted on Wednesday, August 16, 2006

In politics, it’s crucial not to be overwhelmed by irony.

Nobody knows what will happen in the Middle East. But if the U. S. and France, working through the U. N. Security Council, have succeeded in negotiating a lasting cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, the temptation will be to make jokes. How long ago was it that a (pardon my French ) rapprochement with France would have been deemed suspect by all hairy-chested, God-fearing Americans ? Diplomacy may fail. Powerful forces inside the Bush administration are trying to circumvent it. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, like her predecessor Colin Powell, is ridiculed as an incompetent weakling by the same geniuses who predicted a “cakewalk” in Iraq. True, Rice may not be the second coming of George Marshall, but they liked her fine when she was emitting warlike noises and “end times” gibberish.