Saturday Tidbits

Oklahoma: Jim "In Denial" Inhofe may have just crossed the line from "In Denial" to "On Another Planet." At a fundraiser with Dick Cheney, Inhofe denies that weapons of mass destruction was the issue behind U.S. involvement in Iraq:

Inhofe, speaking to the press before Cheney's arrival, lambasted Democrats for Thursday's Senate vote to begin withdrawal from Iraq by Oct. 1 and the press for "mischaracterizing" the reasons for U.S. involvement.

"The whole idea of weapons of mass destruction was never the issue, yet they keep trying to bring this up," Inhofe said.

When asked why Gen. Colin Powell, then U.S. secretary of state, told the United Nations in 2003 that such weapons posed an imminent danger, Inhofe replied: "I can't answer that. In fact, I've never been one of the real strong fans of General Powell."

Pressed for an explanation, Inhofe said weapons of mass destruction were "incidental" to the decision to invade Iraq.

"The media made that the issue because they knew Saddam Hussein had used weapons of mass destruction. So we knew that they were there. But that was incidental to the fact we were going after terrorist camps."

Granted, George W. Bush keeps changing the reasoning behind the Iraq War. Nevertheless, for Inhofe to say something like this clearly indicates that either he's detached from reality or he simply doesn't care about inconsequential things like "the truth." (By the way, there are so many things wrong with that last paragraph, it's like the "Plan 9 from Outer Space" of Iraq assessments.)

South Dakota: It looks like the SD-GOP is getting ready to challenge the very popular, still-recovering incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Johnson. The possible candidates: Dusty Johnson, first-term Public Utilities Commissioner, and state Rep. Joel Dykstra, R-Canton. No mention in the article of far-right conservative Gov. Mike Rounds.

Alabama: With the toxic gluten that caused the pet food scare now having potentially spread to the human food supply, we sure could use a U.S. Senator who has led on the un-glamorous but critically important issue of food safety and public health. Hey, I think Commissioner Ron Sparks has been a leader on this issue!

Will Iraq continue to be a top issue in 2008? Well, "the Bush administration foresees its 'surge' lasting until 'well into' 2008." Looks like.