Public discourse is dead

I read this in the comment section of an artcile called "Bush Plans War on Iran" by Marjorie Cohn:

…Bush called for "an Iran whose government is accountable to its people, instead of leaders who promote terror and pursue the technology that could be used to develop nuclear weapons."

When our president can say this without irony, we know that public discourse is dead.

I think true public discourse had been dead a long time but, yes, this is a particularly telling remark.