Is Bush Merely Gaga, Or Is He Onto The Next Bad Idea?

The President's weirdly, even frighteningly, out of touch quote blaming the violence in Iraq on Al-Qada caused a stir in the punditocracy yesterday.

"Delusional" was the favorite term on cable news last night. Hearing him blame Al-Qada for violence twhich hey may well have fomented months ago, but which now clearly has a terrifying life of its own, he did indeed sound nutty. But look at what he said next:

“My questions to him [Malekey] will be: ‘What do we need to do to succeed? What is your strategy in dealing with the sectarian violence?’ ” Mr. Bush said. “I will assure him that we will continue to pursue Al Qaeda to make sure that they do not establish a safe haven in Iraq.” [emphasis added]

This is yet another change in the definition of the mission. Now, Bush seems to be saying, the purpose of the American presence is to keep Al-Qada from developing "a safe haven," whatever that means.

Does this mean helping establish security, ensuring the government is stable, etc. etc. is coming off the table, and our troop's mission will shift to a smaller "search and destroy" task specifcally and exclusively aimed at Al-Qada, which every military leader in uniform agress is just a small portion of the problem?

Stay tuned.