Preacher-In-Chief Spends Taxpayer Money Repairing Image (A-GAIN!)

You can't claim Rove doesn't take every opportunity to boost Bush's poll numbers, but imagine what today's service at the National Cathedral cost (security, flowers, schlepping those poor people from New Orleans to Pyongyang on the Potomac to serve as Bush props). The AP reports the stirring words of the the Dear Leader / Preacher-in-Chief:

"'As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality,' Bush said during a national prayer service with other political leaders and religious figures from the affected region at the National Cathedral.

Also Friday, White House officials said that taxpayers will pay the bill for the massive reconstruction program and it will worsen the nation's budget deficit.

In the cathedral, several dozen evacuees and first responders, all from New Orleans, filled one side wing. The president and his wife, Laura, sat solemnly in a front pew along with Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne."

Um, why are taxpayers footing the bill so Bush can appear to care about these people? Couldn't we just send that money directly to those who need it? Couldn't we spend it on, oh, say, recruiting young Repubs to fight and die for the Dear Leader?

And why clear away just the legacy? Sounds Orwellian to me - let's just clear away the inequality and save time AND money! Also, was it ever in question that we'd pay for this? More like our grandchildren - the Bushies will borrow to pay for their new New Orleans corporate theme park (and to rebuild Trent Lott's house). The only thing missing from the AP piece was whether Madame Dear Leader has finally learned that Hurricane Corinna was not the cause of the damage.

Perhaps it's time to urge those College and Young Republicans who are afraid of IEDs and fratricide to volunteer to at least go to the Gulf Coast and clean up the Dear Leader's mess. Dare we branch out?