THE COWARDLY ADMINISTRATION

Some days, I really can't keep up with political events. Having said that, and after reading a godly number of blogs that point out:

• Butt-Kicking 101, or "How to Get the Snot Beat out of You" by MP George Galloway;
• Newsweek's version of "Thank You, Sir, May I have another?" (Kevin Bacon's character in "Animal House")
• Laura Bush being sent to the Middle East to teach a class on "How to Smooth Over Feathers Ruffled by Your Husband", followed by:
• The "Saddam Skivvies Skin Pics"

I have to weigh in on the obvious. For example: I didn't want to be the person who pointed out the obvious: Bush sending his wife to the Middle East to clean up the mess he created. Is it me, or, since Bush is a "man's man", wasn't there just a hint of cowardice in sending his wife to an area of the world where she was placed at considerable risk, by sending her over to the Middle East to make "feel good, and America isn't that bad" speeches? Did he not know of the risk? Or didn't he care?

Has any other President sent his wife to do the job for which he was elected?

Newsweek told the truth, when Mike Isikoff wrote that story about the prison abuse. They should not have backed down, but since they are literally begging for the opportunity to assume a kneeling position in front of Karl Rove, in their mea culpa, well, that also means that every friggin thing that goes wrong for the Administration in the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world, Newsweek will be held accountable and responsible. Not Donald Rumsfeld, not Dick Cheney, not Paul Wolfowitz, not Doug Feith - no one in this Administration.

Brave people take responsibility and allow themselves to be held accountable. This is something we have yet to see from this Administration - the following words: " We made a mistake", or "We were wrong".

It should not have taken a British member of Parliament to hand Sen. Norm Coleman his behind on a silver platter and call the entire government liars. Yet, it did, and if for nothing else, George Galloway demonstrated the very act of bravery, by facing his accusers head on, never breaking eye contact, never wavering, not being bowed down, and not being broken.

You wonder if Democrats not named Conyers, Boxer, Kennedy, Feingold, Byrd, Slaughter, McKinney, or Barbara Lee, learned anything from a British MP?

And just when the Newsweek debacle is showing signs of dying down, along comes the version of "Saddam's Famous Photo Album" purely designed with the intention of further humiliating someone who really can't be humiliated anymore. I mean, who's facinated by seeing a nearly 70 year old man in his underwear? Who had the gall, the unmitigated gumption (as my grandmother would say) to take these pictures?

Some poor sod enlisted in the Army, thinking he or she was going off to "Be all they Can Be" and getting short shrift when they were told that the $20,000 pay off for college wasn't going to be there, and they had to pull another six months in Iraq, before they could even be considered being sent stateside. No body armor for protection, food rations that San Quentin would probably riot over, and getting paid $1300 a month (and I think that's the pay for a Private First Class) to place his life on the line in the name of being a Patriot for his country. The buck private knows he could get a cool $25Gs for leaking those pictures to the press; just had to be the foreign press. Unless it was going to be beneficial to the Administration (as in "Big, Bad Cowboy Leader In Charge" enhancement), no MSM would touch them.

Or is this another Karl Rove tactic for drawing the spotlight from where it should go and directing where it doesn't need to be?

The reality is, this Administration is really good at taking credit where they shouldn't, and shlepping off responsibility where they should. This is the coward's way out of things - to either hide behind your wife's skirts, or blame the MSM for the poor image of the United States and the Federal Government.

First, we have "President Hypocrite". Now, we have "The Cowardly Administration".

And a trip down the yellow brick road to the Land of Oz is probably too late to give this Administration the "bravery" it purports to have. Real bravery comes from within - but if your inwardness is hollow as a pumpkin on Halloween, then cowardice is your only option.