Dr. Rice discovers time zones

The Times ran an article today about the U.S. government's attempts to control the news cycle improve its image abroad. They put Karen Hughes, a longtime Bush confidante, in charge of the effort at the State Department. (For a more serious take on the issue, check out this opinion piece from last Monday's Trib.) Dr Rice, when asked by the Times about what this was all about, had this incisive observation to offer:

“What we found with rapid response is it does have to be 24-hour and at least a lot of it has to be in the field, not back in Washington, just because of the nature of the time cycle,” she said.

It is indeed reassuring to know that the Bush administration has discovered that there are countries outside the GMT -4 to -7 zones.