O'Reilly Night Two - Bush is Smarter than Kerry

So let me get this straight. According to my Democrat friends, John Kerry is nuanced and Bush is an idiot. And yet, in less than a week John Kerry and his sister manage to insult Australia and Iraq. Somehow this is how Kerry is going to make us more respected abroad. OTOH, O'Reilly tries to get Bush to take it to Chirac and Bush says:

BUSH: Well I think, uh, yeah, I mean, there was, I believe that we have to take threats seriously before they fully materialize, I saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. Everybody saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. My opponent saw a threat in Saddam Hussein,
O’REILLY: Not Jacques Chirac?
BUSH:: Well, he voted yes at the Security Council.
O’REILLY: Yeah, but he stabbed you guys in the back, you thought he was going to help you and he didn't.
BUSH:: Well, the, in the first resolution that took place in — right after my, well not right after my speech, but shortly after my speech, at the General Assembly in 2002, — the resolution said, the resolution said, disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences, and France voted aye. When it came time, after diplomacy had failed, to define serious consequences, that's where we had a divergence of opinion. I believe when international bodies speak, they ought to, — theyought to mean what they say. And I believe when a President speaks, he ought to mean what he says.
O’REILLY: What’s Chirac’s problem?
BUSH:: In Iraq? Well he...
CROSSTALK
O’REILLY: He hasn’t been a great ally to the U.S. since 9/11, they won't, he doesn’t want NATO forces to protect elections in Afghanistan, come on, I mean, this guy’s…
BUSH:: Well they're helping us in Afghanistan some, they’ve helped us in Haiti some. But you know, he’s, — he just didn't see the wisdom of the action in Iraq and I think history’s going to prove him wrong. I would, I …
CROSSTALK
O’REILLY: You think it was political, you think he’s playing to his left-wing base in France?
BUSH: Well, you’d better get him on your show “Factor,” because I don't want to put words in his — I’ll tell you this. I’ll tell you this. — If Saddam Hussein were in power today, we’d be a heck of a lot worse off. And it’s really important for our citizens to understand that. This is a guy that had the capability of making weapons. I believe he was trying to delay and hope that the world would turn its head once again, and remember, there was what, seventeen different U.N. resolutions…

Notice that Bush is unwilling to sell out even our most dubious "ally". That's Presidential. Kerry on the other hand, has insulted anyone and everyone who's worked with the US on Iraq. Everyone.

My favorite moment came when O'Reilly brought up The Attack of the Pajamahadeen. Bush didn't give the MSM a single thing to use against him. For an idiot he sure does seem to make good decisions about which battles to fight.

O’REILLY: All right. In light of the CBS document fiasco, do you think you get a fair shake from the network news and the elite media like the “New York Times?” Do you think your administration and you get a fair…
BUSH:: That — O’Reilly, you know I’m smarter than that, to be taking on the press in the middle of a campaign.
[LAUGHTER]
O’REILLY: Well…
BUSH:: What do you want…
[LAUGHTER]
O’REILLY: Philosophically, let’s talk philosophically. Do you think you get a fair shake?
BUSH:: Look I, that's up for the people to decide that. You know, I — I just tell people what I think. And I try to be as clear as I can be. You know, when it’s all said and done, and people look at this campaign, they're going to have to decide whether or not they want somebody who tells them what he believes and doesn’t change positions based upon pressure and polls or, or articles in newspapers.

One of the best men I know told me once, "It's none of my business what other people think of me. My job is to do my best." Bush has learned that lesson. His opponent, eh, not so much.