A Very Delicate Situation

NYT:

What if your family was planning a big end-of-summer bash (a Grand Old Party, you might call it) but preferred that you not be seen — or heard?

That is the question hanging over President Bush, with eight weeks to go until Republicans gather in St. Paul to nominate Senator John McCain as his successor. Convention planners, the White House and the McCain campaign are wrestling with how to choreograph a proper send-off for Mr. Bush — sure, his poll numbers are in the tank, but he is still the party leader and president of the United States — while hustling him out the door in time for Mr. McCain to look like his own man.

First of all: too fucking bad. You own Bush, Republicans, and all that he implies. He's hanging out there like a gigantic turd in the global punchbowl. You figure out what to do with him now.

Now you know how the whole thinking and feeling half of the country has felt for the last eight years. Every time we found ourselves thrust on the world stage (which is pretty much all the time, America somehow being, despite its obvious Republican-piloted death spiral over the last eight years, still the biggest kid in the sandbox) we had to hang our heads, look the other way, or cringe like siblings, cousins, parents, and grandparents at a family reunion as our obese, not-too-bright, drunk, hyper-aggressive uncle did or said something stupid, ignorant, bigoted, or violent. I'm sure you'll figure out a way to keep your embarrassing uncle in line at your Minneapolis family reunion. Thank God for us you'll have to do it live on national television. Have fun!

(By the way, NYT, thanks for your usual false equivalence. Dems do not "face a similar quandry" re Bill 'n Hillary this year. BHO supporters are not thrilled with Bill and Hill, for sure, but the Clintons didn't, you know, wreck the country or anything. So I have no doubt that both of them are going to receive a warm welcome at the Dems' little party. In fact, I expect that Bill's arrival is going to be analogous to the arrival at the family reunion of the uncle everyone loves. You know the guy -- the one who tells great stories, loves to laugh, and arrives with a great bottle of something for the grownups and pockets packed with candy for the kids. I also think he's going to make a great speech.)