When I was 12, my dad made me come into the living room to watch something boring on TV. It was Nixon's resignation speech. My dad, wise man that he is, realized that we were witness to a major historical event. But I was very annoyed that my dad would make me do something so boring. I was busy! I had lame Gothic romances to read! In my defiance, I thought, "I'll show him! He can make me sit on the couch, but he can't make me listen."

So I stuck my fingers in my ears.

I was 12. I'm not 12 any more.

George W. Bush is still 12. And he's still sticking his fingers in his ears.

...few of the key Baker-Hamilton recommendations appealed to the administration, which intensified its own deliberations over a new "way forward" in Iraq. How to look distinctive from the study group became a recurring theme.

As described by participants in the administration review, some staff members on the National Security Council became enamored of the idea of sending more troops to Iraq in part because it was not a key feature of Baker-Hamilton.

Get that? W is pushing for this lame-ass "surge" because the Iraq Study Group told him not to. That'll show Daddy's men!

Hat tip to The Carpetbagger Report and Atrios.

I like what a commenter over at Carpetbagger had to say: "Someone tell Baker to tell them to bomb Iran." Sad thing is, that would probably work.

Jon Soltz, one of the founders of VoteVets.org, speculates that the "surge" is meant to handle the Mahdi Army flipping out once they find out that we've bombed Iran. Go ahead and read it if you want the crap scared out of you. It's a good companion piece to Alexandrovna's piece in Informed Comment. I hope Soltz wrong. I hope it's all about George being 12. That's bad enough.