Kissinger Endorses McCain

Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Presidents Ford and Nixon, says Senator McCain is the best person to serve as president at a dangerous time for America and the world:

"I tremendously admire his service to the nation," Mr. Kissinger said. "I believe that he's the best candidate to serve our nation in an extremely difficult and complicated period." He added that he was "doing something that I am not comfortable with" in making an endorsement, but that Mr. McCain and the nation deserved it.

In what may have been a criticism of Mr. Romney, Senator Clinton, Mayor Giuliani, or a number of the candidates running in the 2008 race, Mr. Kissinger stressed the strength and depth of Mr. McCain's commitment to his belief in America and freedom. "This is not a question of a focus group advising what to say on a talk show," he said.

Kissinger also took the opportunity to criticize the recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran:

"They had a footnote that said a weapons program is the production of warheads," Mr. Kissinger said. "In fact, there are three elements to a weapons program, the production of fissionable material, the production of missiles, and the production of warheads. …We cannot dismiss it by defining it into one category, and this is a problem that will be with us for the rest of this administration and into the beginning of the next administration."

Kissinger had an important article in the Washington Post about misreading the Iran report and the recent tendency of the intelligence community to turn itself into a kind of check on the executive branch.

Related:
Changing Our View Of Iran
Iran Strengthened By NIE

Pelosi Still Reading War Supplemental

Today, the Congressional Quarterly (subscription required), reveals that the conference report on the war supplemental adopted by the House and cleared by the Senate last week, had not yet been sent to the president because Speaker Pelosi wants more time to personally read it and sign it.

That's right, even though she voted for it, Pelosi hasn’t even read the bill yet. The presidential veto of the legislation containing the Democrats' withdrawal language, the veto promised for the last three months, should have happened long ago. It hasn't because Speaker Pelosi has done everything imaginable, and some things unimaginable - like going on vacation to visit a state sponsor of terrorism before naming the conferees and waiting days to sign the report she failed to read before she voted on - to delay getting the bill to the White House for the certain veto. The delay prompted presidential Tony Snow to offer to walk down to the Capital to pick it up:

“It’s now been passed for five days,” said Bush spokesman Tony Snow. “We’re not quite sure why it’s been so difficult to convey it one mile up Pennsylvania Avenue … I could walk down and pick it up today.”

Apparently all of Nancy's delaying shenanigans were designed to allow a carefully arranged political statement by the Democrats. According to The Hill, they will stage a signing event to send their war supplemental bill to the White House:

The ceremony will come four years to the day after Bush stood in front of a “Mission Accomplished” sign and declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Is anyone else tiring of the Democrats' political theater? If they are going to fund the war, just do it. If the Democrats truly want to end the war, they should refuse to fund it. Either way the Democrats should stop using the money, needed to support our troops fighting the war, to seek some partisan political advantage.