The Emperor's Empty Suit

The empty suit looked at the pinstripe suit worn by NBC's Kevin Corke at yesterday's news conference in the Rose Garden and teased "...that is a beautiful suit." Then spying the suit worn by CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Bush then crowned her with "best dressed" honors.

"Retreating to Small Talk When the News Isn't So Good" Why would The Decider want to talk about Iraq, North Korea, Iran or any of the mess he made on his policy plate?

But he tried to fill the suit. He faulted the Clinton administration for the failure of the 1994 nuclear agreement with North Korea, but Bush left out "the U.S. government's own role in scuttling that agreement." (WaPo)

On Iraq, he watered down his under-attack litany of "stay the course," and pep-talked the situation there chanting.... "We're on the move..... We're taking action."

He said he did not "find credible" a new report which estimates 655,000 excess Iraqi deaths since the U.S. invasion. Even though the report has won high praise for the "powerful strength" of the research method, he did not find it credible.... but when asked directly for his estimate, he didn't supply numbers of his own.

"Bush Stands Firm on Policies," was the best headline he could get from the news conference. He bragged on the good economy, the supposed reduction in the national deficit though analysts note it is fuzzy math, and outright manipulation of the facts.

Bush conveniently forgot to mention that the country's "Trade Deficit Hits Record High." Partly due to a continuing trade gap with China, the "U.S. trade deficit rose to a record $69.86 billion in August." (WaPo)

Bush might well envy the competent reporter who nicely fills his tailored suit, while Bush tries to find cover in his threadbare policies.... the Emperor has no " credible" clothes.