21st Century Bourbons

Talleyrand is said to have remarked that the Bourbons of France had learned nothing and forgotten nothing. George W is looking more and more like one of them.

Consider that, even as Sen. Lindsay Graham says that Iraq is descending into chaos, but "the Bush administration said Monday there are no plans for dramatic shifts in policy or for ultimatums to Baghdad to force progress." It's not as if Republicans are united in this; instead, just about every day another member of the GOP finds a way to declare that the present policy is a disaster.

Meanwhile, W has named Richard Strickler, a former coal industry official, to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Strickler's nomination was twice rejected by the Senate, so Bush made another of his recess appointments, which allow an appointee to serve, without approval from the Upper House, until the end of the next congressional session. Remember that this comes not only as Bush's popularity is lower than a hard-rock mine, but also following the Sago mine disaster in West Virginia focused attention on the degree to which mine safety has been sacrificed to the interests of the coal operators.

Like the man said, learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

Will that change when the GOP takes a pounding in two weeks, and W becomes a very lame duck? My prediction is that his isolation and arrogance will only increase.