No one will ever accuse me of being too hoity-toity to lick at the underbelly of America's trashiest media to come up with a post idea.  Someone at Starbucks this morning mentioned "hearing" this, so I hunted it down in the darkest reaches of the intarweb.

The National Enquirer has "breaking news" regarding Dubya's recent return to the bottle, his pacifier of choice — alcohol.  Well, actually, his pacifier of choice following cocaine, but that's more nasal than oral… and is another story altogether.  Kate Moss can explain.

Akin to the myriad of disreputable sources available for lowbrow news junkies, The National Enquirer is now reporting that Dubya has turned to alcohol, his old friend, for comfort following the Katrina catastrophe.  Irrespective of whether this is true or not, I certainly couldn't fault him for doing so.

Having determined he himself was an alcoholic, and admitted as much, we can't arbitrarily dismiss this report simply given the source — but it's still a very good reason to do so.

Still, I'll never be accused of making a big deal out of any use or overuse of mind-altering drugs.  As I made clear previously, I have no problem with people who use drugs (which would, by definition, include alcohol, regardless of the federal government's failure to realize that minor discrepancy with their policy).  Truth be told, who the fuck cares if Bush is drinking again?  I certainly don't.

Not to rely too heavily on the bible, but let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all…

If we Americans were so eager to overlook, or at least be tolerant of, Clinton's extramarital sexual escapades in the Oval Office and otherwise, why would we then give a damn about Bush drinking?

Be honest when answering that question, otherwise it's moot.

I, for one, don't care.  Every American who drinks alcohol or uses other drugs should not care (if they do, they're hypocrites and don't matter anyway).  Every person who didn't care about Clinton's White House sexual activities should not care about this (again, if they do…).

So what if Bush is drinking (whether again or still).  It's irrelevant, meaningless gibberish from those who wish to capitalize on pointing out that others are doing precisely what they themselves do before writing their next story.  Sad, yes, but not entirely surprising or even disheartening.  Should that have been written by CNN or MSNBC or Faux News or the BBC or… anyway… had it been written by someone with slightly more credibility than The National Enquirer, it would be worthy of mention only as if someone had pointed out that the moon orbits Earth.  Considering the source, it's even less worthy of mention except in the context of pointing and laughing.