Inadvertent hilarity

In an op-ed in today's LA Times, Zev Chafets says that Bush is the "big winner" from today's Middle East shindig in Annapolis, notwithstanding that nothing is likely to happen there. Could be so, I suppose, as a statement about the U.S. opinion poll effects (though even this seems to me unlikely).

But then the LSD kicks in, and the spittle starts spraying from Chafets' mouth.

He asserts that, just because various countries and institutions came to the thing, "[i]t turns out that Bush, far from wrecking America's prestige and influence, has compounded it."

Then the true comedy payoff:

"In the past, there were foreign leaders who might have attempted to spoil the party. President Jacques Chirac of France, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan were all publicly rude to Bush at one time or another, and perhaps they would have dissed him again this time. But guess what? None of them is invited. They are all gone from office -- a fact not lost on their successors, who are almost embarrassingly anxious to be friendly with the Bush administration."

Never mind Australia, or for that matter the fate of Tony Blair. The really important thing to keep in mind is that Bush can go over the heads of foreign leaders and appeal to the voters out there ANY TIME HE LIKES. Those foreign voters are nuts about him, and protective like a mother hen. Likewise, Bush's pull with the UN General Assembly rank and file is just INCREDIBLE. So none of these people would DARE stand up to him unless they had a political death wish.

Is Chafets living on the planet Zircon or something? Is he deranged enough to believe what he writes, or too crass to care?