Yeah, it was a real shocker to the adminstration when Iraq whom we had been helping "accidentally" fired an Exocet missle (where'd they get that thing??) and hit one of our naval vessels (oops!, snicker, snicker). You may have guessed by now that I tend to the conservative (that's the catagory these days) side of most issues but as far as the Bushes go 41 was a big disappointment to me but I should have known better. 43 started out of the gate fairly strong and seemed to come to terms with the terrible situation that was thrust upon him but he has lost his head of steam and bean counters and political analysts with their collective finger to the wind DO seem to be driving his policies. Cheney is a smart man. Really smart. I like him and I think he is so smart that when his term is over he will walk away from the whole deal. That's smart! Rice is more than smart. She's brilliant. I'd like to see if she has that extra something that allows a person to blaze their own path. She knows the value of the team and she is certainly a team player but could she be a team leader? ( note the athletic metaphor, as she is big on sports) I mean, can she call her own plays?? GW is smarter than the average bear but not a lot smarter and he is really a weak public communicator. Laura is much more articulate! We all SURVIVE our governments. One group is happy, the other isn't then vice versa. Somehow it works. In lieu of war if we could just fight in an honest and open press, in the media, at the ballot box, forego the bullets and bombs, tolerate or endure the party we don't like and, well, see my earlier posts, before I go off again!