Woodward published this in 2006. I read it shortly after that. Then it sat on my shelf, un-discussed.

In his usual journalistic approach, Woodward writes about the Bush administration as if he was an insider. You get to know the inner workings of the administration, mostly during its first term, where the players are Bush, Cheney, Card, Rumsfeld, Rice and Powell.

Writing this when Rumsfeld is long gone seems dated and futile.

Reading about the beginnings of this war now, when we have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, and the outcome we could not know about in 2003 and 2004, readily apparent and now part of history, is enlightening.

This is yet another indictment of the Bush administration. I know there are many more on the shelf now than there were in 2006.

It is mind numbing to recognize that we let a man like Rumsfeld make decisions for us, expend thousands of American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, maim tens of thousands of American service men and women, spend huge amounts of our money, destroy a nation’s infrastructure – and then allow him to turn around and call those of us with the audacity to challenge this un-American.

But just that seems to have happened. All based on a general state of denial.

State of Denial is a book to read if you are inclined to vote for McCain this fall. I see some denial in McCain’s approach today.