Last night, I liveblogged the President’s speech on the “New Way Forward” in Iraq. I thought it would be fun to play Wonkette’s Surge Speech Drinking Game at the same time, in an effort to lighten the moment a bit.

Also, it was better to put a beer bottle in my mouth than a gun.

Having reviewed the speech more closely, and listened to some of the reactions, I have to say that I have an overwhelming feeling of compassion for President Bush. The look on his face was one of a man who suddenly realizes what he’s done - like the teenager that steals a stop sign for kicks, and causes a fatal car crash.

His face and body language spoke of a man that knew he couldn’t fix what he had broken, despite his verbal assertions that something good could come of all of this, sounding like that same teenager reading the requisite apology letter to the crash victim’s families.

I feel sorry for him, and for the anguish he must be experiencing – even though he did bring it on himself. He took control of a nation with a strong economy, a balanced budget and high international esteem; and he ruined all of it through his narrow vision and avarice.

September 11th changed everything, we’re told (and told, and told); but I maintain that it might not have happened, had someone else been in the White House – or at least not happened in the same way. But it did happen, and instead of embracing the national unity and international goodwill, he saw an opening for his singular, petty goals and he took it. And, like every other udertaking in his life, he blew it. It was the international equivalent of trading Sammy Sosa.

Last night, it was clear that he knew it. There was no more denying it. There was no more taking comfort in the fact that his friends had made out well. There was no delusion that history would prove him a visionary.

All that’s left to do now is to try and stem the tide of death and destruction, and that apparently requires more death and destruction.