In an interview with Ned Temko of "The Observer," Bush was in full Mad Hatter form, as well, offering what political observers call "creative interpretations" of recent history but normal folks call "lies."
TEMKO: "Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq obviously is ..."
THE PRESIDENT:" Still looking for them."
TEMKO: "Still looking for them, exactly." (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: "That was a huge disappointment."
TEMKO: "And the obvious question your critics ask, particularly in Britain, is if we'd known at the time there weren't any WMD, would there have been this war?"
THE PRESIDENT: "Well, you know, that's one of those great hypotheticals that we didn't know. Now having said that, I still strongly defend the decision. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power. But Presidents don't get to do 're-dos,' they don't get to do 'look backs,' 'ifs.' All I can tell you is, is that we thought for certain there was weapons of mass destruction, as did the nations that voted for 1441."
When Temko attempted to talk about the wholesale killing of Iraqi civilians, Bush attempted to out-do Sammy Davis Jr. in terms of tap dancing.
TEMKO: "One of the questions, of course, they ask, is, do you feel a sense of personal pain..."
THE PRESIDENT: "Course I do."
TEMKO: "- over the Iraqi civilians who have ..."
THE PRESIDENT: "I feel a sense of pain for those who were tortured by Saddam Hussein, by the parents who watched their daughters raped by Saddam Hussein, by those innocent civilians who have been killed by inadvertent allied action, by those who have been bombed by suicide bombers. I feel a sense of pain for death. I feel a sense of pain for the families of our troops. I read about it every night. Or I used to read about it every night; the violence has changed."
(NOTE: To fully comprehend the above answer, it is necessary to don a tin foil hat while placing one's tongue in a live outlet.)
I'm not sure Warren G. Harding might not have been as thick a brick as George Bush. But I do know he wasn't responsible for squandering national treasure and spreading anywhere near the amount of death, mutiliation, destruction, and despair as the guy who owns a former hog farm near Crawford, Texas.