As the Sun Pulls Away from the Shore, and the USS George W Bush Sinks Slowly in the West ...

Our Beloved Imperial Leader, God-Anointed Terrorist-Quelling Generalissimo and Purveyor of the Christian Democracy of the Pax Americana to Undeserving Brown People Whether They Want It or Not, Already, was in Israel yesterday to help the Jewish state celebrate the 60th anniversary of its foundation.

Which is a bit ironic.

Ironic in that GW's grandfather, Prescott Bush, did business with the Nazis and made money off some rather interesting financial deals.

And ironic in that the Palestinians call the day of Israel's founding "The Catastrophe." But they weren't invited to the party.

So, Our Leader was invited to a Grand Panjandrum, and even got to speak at a special session of the Knesset, where he basically recapped how bad things were during the Holocaust and how challenging things are now (leaving aside the fact that it's his policies to date that have contributed to that complexity).

And he said this: "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.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

The American senator who actually made the quote in 1939 was an isolationist Republican, Senator William Borah of Idaho, but the allusion was both obvious and pointed.

And it was pointed directly at Senator Barack Obama, D-IL, who's running for the Democratic nomination for President.

Naturally, this caused a bit of comment among Democratic leading lights such as Senator Hillary Clinton (D-White Males), Howard Dean, head of the DNC and Senator Joseph Biden (D-Bank of America). And that's not to mention the foaming of the Left Blogosphere.

But let's leave that aside for a moment and examine what's going on.

Bush is in the twilight of his Presidency, and the clock is ticking. So, like Saruman toward the end of The Lord of the Rings, he is looking to do some mischief "in a small mean way," as Gandalf put it so aptly. And what better way than to violate the unspoken rule that national politics stops at the border out of courtesy?

Bush's supporters and his surrogate to do his third term, Senator John McCain (R-Geritol), have all dumped on the Democrats and Obama in particular for wanting to actually sit down with Iran and thrash things out verbally, rather than rely on firepower. Remember also that President Ahmadinejad is not the person they'd be dealing with, but the actual person in charge of the country and its foreign policy, Ayatollah Khamenei.

But sitting down to talk to our enemies is, apparently, appeasement, on the order of Chamberlain and Daladier talking to Hitler and Mussolini. See? I know the names and circumstances, even if right-wing talk show host Kevin James doesn't. By his lights and those of his fellow Republicans, Obama's an appeaser for wanting to talk with Iran.

So where does that leave Secretary of Defense Gates, who wants to sit down and talk to Iran because of the parlous current state of our military?

And where does that leave Secretary of State Rice, who wants to sit down and talk to Iran in order to defuse the situation and try to put some luster back onto the tattered remnants of our foreign policy?

Appeasers, both of them, by George Bush's criteria. He should fire them both the instant he returns to Washington.

But we must recall that this President values personal loyalty to him above other things. He will discard them when they are no longer useful or if they waver in their loyalty.

A President in the twilight, especially this President, is so far capable only of doing mischief "in a small mean way."

And, in my opinion, it would take a miracle on the order of the Second Coming to turn things around for him and for our nation.

It is not - I repeat, NOT - appeasement to sit down and talk to other countries, even to our enemies.

Roosevelt sent envoys and emissaries under the table to talk to Hitler and Mussolini.

Roosevelt talked to Stalin.

Nixon talked to Brezhnev, and to Mao. In fact, Nixon went to China.

Reagan talked to Gorbachev.

And here's a news flash that will surely irritate my fellow Republicans (particularly the tiny minority that still worships GWB) - Communism was more of an existential threat to our country and its security than terrorism ever was or will be.

Selah.