The abbreviated rant...

...about -- what else -- the disgusting mess in Washington.

I started to write a long, angry screed, but it kept getting longer and longer, and embraced a widening circle of related topics. The hell with it. I deleted all that stuff, and have boiled it down to a few simple points:

1. If Jorge Bush's mealy-mouthed argument for staying in Iraq ("getting rid of a tyrant and spreading democracy") was to make sense, it would have to include moves on Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and most of the rest of the Middle East, as well as North Korea, China, several African nations and, perhaps, the EU.

2. Jorge Bush is a solid contender -- against Jimmuh Carter and Bubba Clinton -- to be named the most incompetent president in modern times. Certainly, he is the dumbest.

3. Removing him (and Dick Cheney) will not, however, repair anything unless we rid Washington of as much as 95% of Congress (including all big-name Democrats and Republicans), everyone in the State Department and the majority of government employees in that cesspool. I think those working at the Smithsonian can stay.

4. Between Jorge's pitiful performance and the ranting, slavering Democrats who place power-grabbing, revenge and hatred of their opponents above actually helping the people who elected them, all pretense of public service has vanished.

5. All Democrat and most Republican presidential candidates (except Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and -- maybe -- Fred Thompson) represent the broken system. None deserve support.

This should be clear to any sensible person. Which is to say, any person who isn't stupefied by party loyalty.

To quote Jorge, "the fight will be difficult, but it can be won."

Only I'm talking about a different battle, one that will result in the government putting our citizens first in everything they do, not pandering to illegal immigrants and the would-be slave-owners who want them here, the big campaign donors and the UN.

I'm not terribly optimistic, but it seems our only way out of the looming disaster.