Today's White House press conference with Bush and British Prime Minister Tony "Yo" Blair was not particularly newsworthy, but there was one comment the president made towards the end of the event that warrants extra attention.
"[W]hat the world is seeing is a desire by this country and our allies to defeat the ideology of hate with an ideology that has worked and that brings hope," Bush said. "And one of the challenges, of course, is to convince people that Muslims would like to be free, that there's other people other than people in Britain and America that would like to be free in the world."
The president added, "There's this kind of almost -- kind of a weird kind of elitism that says well maybe -- maybe certain people in certain parts of the world shouldn't be free; maybe it's best just to let them sit in these tyrannical societies. And our foreign policy rejects that concept. And we don't accept it."
What a relief we have Bush working against these secret elites who want to condemn millions to a life of tyranny.
And who are these dastardly bigots who believe Muslims don't want freedom and who are convinced that "certain parts of the world shouldn't be free"? Bush didn't say, but they must exist, right? It's not as if the president would offer self-righteous indignation against critics who only exist in his imagination. Oh wait....
Post Script: By the way, it's also worth noting that the question that prompted this stunning straw-man argument was, "[W]hat has happened to America's clout in this [Middle East] region that you've committed yourself to transform?" Funny, he never did get around to answering that one.