Wha?

In a New York Times interview Bush reveals the tremendous extent to which he is incapable of understanding -- much less formulating a response to -- the threats facing our country:

Mr. Bush also took issue with Mr. Kerry's argument, in an interview at the end of May with The New York Times, that the Bush administration's focus on Iraq had given North Korea the opportunity to significantly expand its nuclear capability. Showing none of the alarm about the North's growing arsenal that he once voiced regularly about Iraq, he opened his palms and shrugged when an interviewer noted that new intelligence reports indicate that the North may now have the fuel to produce six or eight nuclear weapons.

He said that in North Korea's case, and in Iran's, he would not be rushed to set deadlines for the countries to disarm, despite his past declaration that he would not "tolerate'' nuclear capability in either nation. He declined to define what he meant by "tolerate.''

"I don't think you give timelines to dictators,'' Mr. Bush said, speaking of North Korea's president, Kim Jong Il, and Iran's mullahs. He said he would continue diplomatic pressure - using China to pressure the North and Europe to pressure Iran - and gave no hint that his patience was limited or that at some point he might consider pre-emptive military action.

"I'm confident that over time this will work - I certainly hope it does,'' he said of the diplomatic approach.

Bush's response to actual -- as opposed to imagined or at least non-existent -- nuclear ambition: A shrug.

Also I'm not sure whether to register my disgust with Bush or The New York Times regarding the aforementioned "diplomatic approach." This administration has no "diplomatic approach" when it comes to North Korea. Bush's approach to North Korea:

Shut your yap until you accept disarmament and regime change. We will not talk to you until you commit suicide. Oh, except that we will flip-flop and agree to accept a deal with you that was on the table since before I came to office but then decided to scrap. Oh, you don't want to deal now that I've called you 'Evil' and you actually have nuclear capability? OK, shut up then. Proceed to stick fingers back in ears and yell La, la, la, la...

What fantasy world is Bush (and/or the interviewer) living in to think that there is a diplomatic approach to North Korea?