"I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!"

In this week's New Yorker profile Jefferey Goldberg asks Sen. Joe Lieberman "if he thought that Democrats who voted for the resolution would truly be giving encouragement to the enemy."

“The enemy believes—Ahmadinejad has said this repeatedly—that we don’t have the will anymore for a long battle,” he said, referring to the President of Iran.

Over at Hullabaloo, Digby fires back:

Excuse me? I didn't know we were actually at war with Iran. But in Joe Lieberman's fevered imagination, this isn't even Cheney's silly formulation where withdrawing from Iraq will give al Qaeda reason to believe the US has no balls. In Lieberman's mind, we must not only prove to bin Laden that we have balls, we must prove it to all of our "enemies," especially Iran. (Man, I sure hope the Chinese don't start trash talking about our manhood or it really will be WWIII.)

U.S. foreign policy since Iraq as been reduced to the level of the schoolyard, where even the most ludicrous challenge must be met with resolve and defiance (and blood) lest one lose face. Next thing we know, Ahmadinejad (or bin Laden) will be challenging Bush to stick his tongue to a frozen flagpole.

Bush: Are you kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That's dumb!
Ahmadinejad: That's 'cause you know it'll stick!
Bush: You're full of it!
Ahmadinejad: Oh yeah?
Bush: Yeah!
Ahmadinejad: Well I double-DOG-dare ya!
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] NOW it was serious. A double-dog-dare. What else was there but a "triple dare ya"? And then, the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog-dare.
Ahmadinejad: I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!

Maybe that's why Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez pose such threats for the president. All three operate on the same level, one this White House is uniquely qualified to appreciate.

And Lieberman and the right's Greek chorus of fist-pumping, civilian enthusiasts for a misbegotten war.