Haben Sie auch Schwarze?

Everybody knows that President Junior doesn't write his own speeches. Given his embarrassing performances
of late, however, it's an open question whether Bush even comprehends the speeches he reads. Consider his
recent European foray, for example, where the president's ignorance was matched only by his petulance.

The German newspaper Der Spiegel reports that at a diplomatic reception Bush astonished the president
of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, by asking, "Do you have blacks too?" Noticing the Brazilian delegation's
consternation, national security advisor Condoleeza Rice rescued her boss. "Mr. President, Brazil has probably
more blacks than the USA," she said, "It is the country with most blacks outside of Africa." Cardoso diplomatically
told Der Spiegel that Bush is "still in training" on Latin America.

Oh well, what's Brazil got to do with anything? In keeping with what I call the "Tinkerbell Effect," after the animated
sprite in Disney's "Peter Pan," the American press ignored the incident. See, if we all just close our eyes and make
believe, we can be confident that when Bush makes sweeping historical pronouncements like those in his bellicose
West Point speech last weekend, he has the first bleeping idea what he's talking about.