Does Not Play Well With Others

Here are two fantastic sentences written by Dave Itzkoff as they appeared in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review 's review of Michael Crichton's "Next" :

Though the moment may lack the inherent gravitas of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s encounter with Abraham Lincoln, or even Elvis Presley’s private audience with Richard Nixon, surely history should reserve a special place for the day in 2005 when Michael Crichton was invited to the White House to meet with George W. Bush. Imagine: the modern era’s leading purveyor of alarmist fiction, seated side by side with Michael Crichton.

If you look at today's remarks from White House counselor Dan Bartlett you'll hear a foreshadowing of what we'll be hearing from W. tonight and hearing more and more in the next year or so. Bartlett says we've been "handcuffed by political interference by Iraqi leadership" and that "The Iraqis have got to step up." When we ultimately withdraw from Iraq, we'll do so while waving talking points that will condemn Iraq and its people for failing to help us help themselves, for failing to see the grace of democracy, for dragging their feet on freedom. We couldn't help them, we will say, because they wouldn't help themselves. We'll remark upon the thousands of American lives that died trying to make Iraq a better place and ignore the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who suffered by our helping hands.

Meanwhile, here are some phrases I would be very surprised to hear tonight: "weapons of mass destruction," "Al Qaeda," and "Ossama Bin Laden."