Of course, these concerns are all on top of the fact that the spraying program won't work anyway. So what's the point? If it's bad for the Karzai government, good for the Taliban, and won't reduce heroin production anyway, why is President Bush so gung ho about it?

This is a mystery, of course. But the most likely answer is that he's enthusiastic about it for the same reason that he was enthusiastic about sending Heritage Foundation activists to Baghdad in 2003 and believed that instituting a flat tax would kick Iraq's economy into high gear and allow democracy to bloom. As with so many things, it comes down to the fact that he has an everyman's disdain for pointy-headed policy development and a fifth-grader's appreciation for how the world works outside our borders.

[...]

That's about it. Too bad there isn't someone in the White House to tell him that the stability of Afghanistan and the resurgence of the Taliban are a wee bit more important than continuing to play to his base's hatred of 60s counterculture. In a development that would be comical if it weren't so genuinely appalling, I guess we now have to rely on the CIA for that.

There's a lot of action in Washington, D.C., believe me, and I've got a lot of decisions to make. And so I delegate to good people. I always tell Condi Rice, I want to remind you, Madam Secretary, who has the Ph.D. and who was the C student. (Laughter.) And I want to remind you who the advisor is and who the President is. (Laughter.)

I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, Mr. President, here's what's on my mind. And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device [sic], I decide, you know, I say, this is what we're going to do. And it's "yes, sir, Mr. President." And then we get after it, implement policy.

Rudy Giuliani on whether or not it's a problem that China owns so much of our federal debt: "the way to balance to books is to sell more overseas -- sell energy independence, sell health care."

John McCain on monetary policy: "I'm glad whenever they cut interest rates, I wish interest rates were zero."