THE OPPOSITE ADMINISTRATION

Somewhere in his less-than-stellar schooldays, George W. Bush must have participated in "Opposite Day" and discovered it worked much better for him than trying to keep faith with reality. Or maybe it's just a function of his immature rebellion against and resentment for his over-achieving pragmatic daddy. Whatever the cause, Dubya has made up-is-downism the hallmark of his administration.

Maureen Dowd:

This administration's grand schemes always end up as the opposite. Officials say they're promoting national security when they're hurting it; they say they're squelching terrorists when they're breeding them; they say they're bringing stability to Iraq when the country's imploding. (The U.S. announced five more military deaths yesterday.)

And the most dangerous opposite of all: W. was listening to a surrogate father he shouldn't have been listening to, and not listening to his real father, who deserved to be listened to.

Tags: Bush, Maureen Dowd, up-is-downism