I picked up the Washington Post before getting on a flight last Friday and read a most interesting article about an exchange between Senator James Webb and a Bush appointee/Pentagon flunkie. Senator Webb asked the Clintonian question of what the meaning is of "permanent bases," as in "we're building permanent bases in Iraq." The flunkie responded that, well, it all depends on the meaning of "permanent." Senator Webb asked if we had permanent bases in Japan, where we've been since 1945. The flunkie's answer was that no, you could not say that these are permanent bases because it is possible, after all, that we may leave some day, perhaps in a hundred years. That would mean that the bases were only temporary, not permanent.

Just like the ones the Party of Lincoln is building in Iraq today.