GET WITH THE PROGRAM!

Oh to be Rip Van Winkle and just sleep through the next four years…or however long it takes until we again have a president with the mental faculties of a higher life form.

Pam’s House Blend has the goods on what is truly a stunning display of ignorance by President Bush:

According to various eyewitnesses at a private meeting in the White House Cabinet Room last week, the president was characteristically cordial, yet remarkably non-committal in responding to a wide range of questions, mostly about racial disparities concerning such issues as employment, education, health care and legal rights. But the most "mind-boggling moment," in the words of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), came after Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) asked the president, "Do we have your support in extending and strengthening the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it comes up for renewal in 2007?"

The president responded, according to witnesses, in a way that made caucus jaws drop: He did not know enough about that particular law to respond to it, he said, and that he would deal with the legislation when it comes up. (Emphasis mine.)

Well, Chimpy, you know how you’ve been encouraging the Iraqis to risk bodily harm to exercise their newly acquired right to vote? That happened here back in the ‘60s, only it was black Americans who were threatened, harassed, and killed in pursuit of the same right. So under President Johnon’s watch, the Voting Rights Act was passed, one year after the Civil Rights Act was passed, which you also might want to look into, if you’re not familiar with it, either.

Sometimes I just run out of new ways to express the contempt I have for this man.