Bush: The King of Coalition Building

George Bush proves once again how nimble he is at coalition building. His representatives went to a UN forum on equality and -- despite being way OT -- tried to demand an idiotic insertion to the main document that made clear nothing should be construed as a "right to abortion." Whatever your stance on abortion, this forum had nothing to do with it whatsoever and the main document the UN Forum was going to release was a nonbinding declaration and not a treaty and no one in their right mind could have imagined it was creating new human rights or a right to an abortion. According to the New York Times, even one of the US's own delegates called Bush's action a "mischievous distraction."

Everyone scoffed at the demand and Bush's ambassador Ellen R. Sauerbrey was able to get all of two countries to back the amendment: Egypt and Qatar. Boy, nothing says respect for human rights like those two. Most other nations, including all 25 in the European Union, said it was absurd.

In classic Bush fashion, Ambassador Sauerbrey declared this a victory and withdrew the demand.