Spin Cycle

Bush, having done such a bang up job that he has some of the lowest approval ratings in history, decides to lecture the Democrats -- and, aides say, Obama -- on "appeasement" in a speech to the Knesset celebrating Israel's 60th Anniversary:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' "

If he means Hamas, Obama and the Democrats have never urged negotiating. Aides say he's talking about Iran, but if that's the case -- the misguided "some" apparently include his own defense secretary, according to the morning's Washington Post:

"The United States should construct a combination of incentives and pressure to engage Iran, and may have missed earlier opportunities to begin a useful dialogue with Tehran, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.

" 'We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them,' Gates said."

So, given that his rhetoric is inconsistent on the very same day with the policy being executed by his own defense secretary, you would probably conclude that Bush decided to use a speech as chief of state for a political attack, designed to scare Jewish and national-security voters back into the Republican camp by criticizing the very policy you're pursuing.

Obama's response:

"George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."