President Bush tossed quite the rhetorical question at the British press the other day.

“Perhaps freedom is not universal,” Bush said. “Maybe it’s only Western people that can self-govern. Maybe it’s only, you know, white-guy Methodists who are capable of self-government,” he said, according to AP.

Thankfully, the president then said: “I reject that notion. I think that’s the ultimate form of political elitism, and I believe an accurate reading of history says that freedom can bring peace we want.”

Maureen Dowd’s take: “If there’s one thing W. and Cheney have proved, beyond a sliver of a shadow of a doubt, it’s that at least two white-guy Methodists are not capable of self-government.”