Mispronunciations, "swatting flies," and a loss of control.

This White House is losing control. By that, I don't mean that the world and its challenges are overwhelming them, that's been going on for some time, I mean that they're losing their internal discipline. Every few days we're hearing another little tidbit that makes the President look foolish.

Today, we get Dana Perino defending a leaked copy of the President's speech to the UN which had phonetic spelling in it. She says it's not because Bush can't remember how to say Mauritania, Mugabe, or Caracas, but that the phonetics were included for the translators.

(Right. Because UN level translators trained in English will do better with "moo-GAH-bee" than the regularly used around the world "Mugabe.")

(Second snark: If it was for the translators, then why was it taken down?)

Also today, we get this bizarre image of the President of the United States chasing flies around the oval office (during meetings?)

(Particularly funny since the terrorism strategy was described as going after Al Qaeda and not "swatting flies.")

The broader message of all this is that this is a White House out of control. Mistakes are being made and details are being told that shouldn't be coming out. The image of "steely resolve" is slipping.