Bill Richardson praises Bush, doesn't make sense.

Local Albuquerque news alerted me to an AP article, in which Bill Richardson praises Bush' policy of "spreading democracy" in the Middle East, citing Syria's pullout of Lebanon as a success.

Richardson also said:

"I believe the Bush administration deserves credit for putting pressure and saying that authoritarian regimes have to go," Richardson said on NBC's "Today" show.

He seems to be triangulating for a presidential run, and not making much sense doing so. Citing Syria as a success? Sure, pressure was put on Syria to pull out, but I'd also like to think that the massive protests in Lebanon itself had something to do with it.

Ok, so this is too wishy-washy for me, but not an unknown strategy to appeal to Republican voters and position yourself.

However, Richardson stopped making sense when he said:

In the past, "U.S. policy has winked at Saudi Arabia and Egypt" because of America's stakes in the region, such as energy interests and military bases, Richardson said. "We kind of said 'OK, it's all right not to be democratic.' "

"The president, in talking about freedom and democracy, is sparking a wave of very positive democratic sentiment that might help us override both Islamic fundamentalism that has formed in that region and also some of the hatred for our policy of invading Iraq," he said.

Now wait a minute. Bush is very chummy with Saudi Arabia, as he has always been, and hasn't peeped about democracy there. And the idea of "spreading a wave of democracy throughout the Middle East" is the old PNAC idea that started the whole Iraq mess in the first place.

Well, in any case, despite mentioning a few negative points in there, Richardson is in the headlines now as "praising Bush' MidEast policy". A good start for an '08 run? Maybe not.