Subtlety. Honesty. Nuance.

The Bushies assert that they are tough on terrorism. Too tough perhaps. Because, contrary to popular opinion, they were not busy doing nothing prior to September 11; they were mired in a secret grand plan to eradicate al Qaeda. Conveniently, the planning sessions were so secret that there's no way for Bush critics to disprove definitively their existence. It would seem also that the planning was so secret that even the government's top counterterrorism expert, Richard Clarke, wasn't invited.

To counter Richard Clarke's damning fusillades the Bush administration has concocted a story which Kevin Drum rightly points out "even a five year old would have trouble believing."

Kevin is precisely correct when he asserts that the latest Bush misinformation campaign is pathetic. He goes on to suggest the patently obvious approach which the Bush sycophants just can't seem to grasp:

But the Bush apologists can't be happy with simply suggesting that maybe Clarke misinterpreted what he heard, and in any case 9/11 was a wakeup call for all of us, wasn't it? That would be too subtle, too honest, too nuanced for them. Instead, they have to open up the throttle all the way and insist against all evidence that in reality they were working on the mother of all counterterrorism plans before 9/11 but their chief counterterrorism guy wasn't in the loop.

At this point I must pause and ask when Kevin took leave of his senses. Subtlety? Honesty? Nuance? Are these traits we have ever experienced from the present administration? Seriously?

The present occupant of the White House prides himself on his utter lack of nuance.

You want subtlety? Ol' George "Dead of Alive" Bush is not your man.

Honesty? Honesty? I realize that the last couple of months may represent a bracing wake up call for some Americans who were snookered by this joker, but honesty has simply never been a calling card of George W. Bush.

It's jarring to me that the typically sharp as a tack Kevin Drum could blunder so obviously by suggesting that the Bushies might avail themselves of these qualities. But not nearly so jarring as the recognition that such seemingly useful traits as subtlety, nuance, and honesty are scorned by our president and his supporters.