Bush warns of "long and painful recession"

U.S. President George W. Bush delivers a nationally televised address from the White House to discuss a $700 billion financial rescue plan that he feels is needed to shore up the U.S. economy, in this frame grab taken in Washington on September 24, 2008. (Reuters/White House Television)

His dire warning came not long after the president issued extraordinary invitations to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, one of whom will inherit the mess in four months, as well as key congressional leaders to a White House meeting on Thursday to work on a compromise.

Okay, so either Bush is lying to us now or he was lying to us last week when he said the "fundamentals of the economy were sound." Of course, there is a third possibility - that he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about...

Questions on Iran as Bush heads to Mideast

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a press conference after handing the annual budget bill to the parliament in Tehran on Monday.

"President Bush intends to use his first extended tour of the Middle East to rally support for international pressure against Iran, even as a recent U.S. intelligence report playing down Tehran's nuclear ambitions has left Israeli and Arab leaders rethinking their own approach toward Iran and questioning Washington's resolve, according to senior U.S. officials, diplomats and regional experts."

I'm sure the Palestinians will be pleased to hear Bush is in the region to pressure Iran. I'm sure they thought Bush was coming to pressure Israel to halt the wholesale slaughter of their defenseless and innocent men, women and children, stop the destruction of their homes and farms, force the removal of Israeli settlements and checkpoints, and stop the confiscation of their land.

What, me worry that Bush is coming?

"Recent experience suggests that we should be very worried that President George W. Bush is coming to the Middle East next week to promote peace. The last time he made such a journey, in June 2003, what ensued was an accelerated cycle of violence and ideological conflict that sees most of the Middle East today wracked by warfare, routine terrorism, and intense political confrontation, threats, and stress."

Bush - A president hostile to Israel

"George Bush is coming to Israel this week. He will take pleasure in his visit. One can assume that there are few prime ministers with a giant photo of themselves with the U.S. president hanging on the wall in their home, as our Ehud Olmert boasted last week that he does, to his exalted guest, the comic Eli Yatzpan. There are also few other countries where the lame duck from Washington would not be greeted with mass demonstrations; instead, Israel is making great efforts to welcome him graciously. The man who has wreaked such ruin upon the world, upon his country, and upon us is such a welcome guest only in Israel."