Can You Resist This Headline?

Bush Calls Human Rights Report 'Absurd'

I couldn’t. I figured it had to be taken out of context somehow. Surely, surely, he hadn’t just out-and-out denounced the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag as “absurd,” because that would be…well…absurd.

But he did.

"It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world," Bush said of the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag.

Blink. Blink. A moment, please, while I scoop my jaw off the floor.

He also noted that the allegations were made by prisoners "who hate America." Ah, that old chestnut. I can’t imagine why those prisoners would hate a country who, at the very minimum—ignoring momentarily the allegations of abuse and desecration of their holy book—were often kept indefinitely without being allowed to speak to an attorney. Which makes another part of Bush’s press conference even more astounding:

Bush said he expressed concerns with Russian President Vladimir Putin about legal proceedings against former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Once the richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky was convicted Tuesday of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to nine years in prison following a trail widely denounced as politically motivated.

"Here, you're innocent until proven guilty and it appeared to us, at least people in my administration, that it looked like he had been judged guilty prior to having a fair trial," Bush said. "We're watching the ongoing case."

Uh…okay. Can someone please define unmitigated temerity to this guy tut suite? (I trust that noting Khodorkovsky’s profession of choice isn’t even particularly necessary.)

Another gem from this morning’s Rose Garden news conference was his urging, in response to questions about stem cell research, that:

…the extra embryos created during fertility treatments — estimated to now number around 400,000 — should be adopted.

"There's an alternative to the destruction of life," he said.

Does he seriously think that most people want to donate the embryos of their biological children to other couples? Most couples, right or wrong or neither, don’t like the idea of another couple raising a child that is biologically their own. It’s their decision, not his, so he can suggest “adoption” all he wants, but if the owners of those embryos don’t want to put them up for donation to another couple, then it’s a moot point. Most couples would likely prefer to donate the embryos for stem cell research, which I might point out is, in fact, an alternative to destruction, which is their only option as long as donation for stem cell research isn’t an option.

And not to get all V.C. Andrews about it, but the thought of 400,000 children being born into the gene pool, all of whom have biological siblings out there that they don’t personally know, is just a weirdfest waiting to happen.

Finally, Bush responded to questions about his bike ride not being interrupted when a plane inadvertently came too close to the White House, prompting evacuations in the area, by noting he was “comfortable” with the decision not to notify him. Whatever.

Noting that his wife, Laura, has said he should have been told of the potential threat, the president joked, "She often disagrees with me."

Yeah, I’m not so sure that’s a joke. However often she disagrees, though, it can’t possibly be enough.