Glenn Greenwald at Salon wrote a post this week dissecting some of Dubbya’s recent speeches. He argues that the president’s speech writers have turned a corner, moving from merely absurd hypocrisy to taking advantage of the president by having him deliver hilariously winking self satire. Given that Hollywood writers aren’t writing anything these days, Bush’s speeches are the best public comedy going. Recent material, for example, sees the man lauding government separation of powers and detailing earnestly how his main task as president is to defend the law of the land. Serious. In delivering these sentiments, his writers bring him to dizzying, nearly slap-stick, rhetorical heights that frankly put Colbert to shame. This is a sample from a speech this week to the Federalist Society:

The President’s oath of office commits him to do his best to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I take these words seriously. I believe these words mean what they say… Others take a different view. They forgot that our Constitution lives because we respect it enough to adhere to its words. (Applause.) Ours is the oldest written Constitution in the world. It is the foundation of America’s experiment in self-government. And it will continue to live only so long as we continue to recognize its wisdom and division of authority.

Too much!