Last night Mr. Bush (accompanied by Mr. Blair) staged another I-know-what-I'm-doing press conference on Iraq.  Once again the question arose:

Q: Mr. President, you spoke about missteps and mistakes in Iraq. Could I ask both of you which missteps and mistakes of your own you most regret?

 After three years of reflection, the president was ready for this one:

PRESIDENT BUSH: Sounds like kind of a familiar refrain here -- saying "bring it on," kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people. I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner -- you know, "wanted dead or alive," that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted, and so I learned from that.

 Mr. Bush's biggest mistake has been his language?  Are you kidding me?

(1)  If you look closer, this isn't really an admission of any wrong doing; the real problem is that others have "misinterpreted" what Mr. Bush said.

(2)  Just how long did it take Mr. Bush to determine that egging on Iraqi insurgents wasn't a smart thing to do?

(3)  Mr. Bush does go on to mention Abu Ghraib, but of course that wasn't his doing.

There you have it, nothing about WMDs, troop levels, lack of body armor, failure to stop the looting, a misreading of the culture, and most glaringly, the ill-fated decision to disband the entire Iraqi government.  [At least Mr. Blair acknowledged they could have done "the de-Baathification in a more differentiated way."]  Apparently M. Bush thinks no blunders were made with any of those matters--only with the rhetoric.  That was his greatest misstep.

I'm glad we have such a serious leader running the war, aren't you?