"C'mon, guys! Stop messin' around!"

Is it me, or is the petulant Condi Rice sounding whinier and whinier as this Pakistan thing continues to get worse?

Secretary of State Rice Urges Pakistan's Musharraf to Cut Army Affiliation, Restore Democracy

At a news conference, Rice urged Musharraf to follow through on past promises to "take off his uniform."

"I want to be very clear. We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections," she said.

"The more quickly and the more urgently that the Pakistani leadership and President Musharraf act on their stated desire to get back to a constitutional path, it will be for the better of everyone," she said.

I mean, here's a nuclear state in turmoil, and she's sounding like a kid whose friends are trashing the kitchen. "C'mon, guys, cut it out already! Jeez! My folks are gonna be home any minute! C'mon!"

Not that this whole thing is going to get in the way of our "friendship", though:

Yet it remained doubtful that the U.S. and other Western nations — which last week urged Musharraf to avoid authoritarian measures — would abandon the urbane general who made Pakistan a valued ally in the fight against al-Qaida and Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Bush administration said it was deeply disturbed by the emergency and urged a swift return to democracy. But the Pentagon said Musharraf's declaration does not affect U.S. military support of Pakistan, suggesting to many here it will be business as usual.

Ah, yes, "return to democracy". That's been the catch-phrase all weekend from the Bush regime. Either they seriously don't know how Gen. Musharraf came to power in a military coup (unlikely), or they just don't give a rat's ass - which should make anyone who's paying attention just a little nervous for their dedication to democracy elsewhere, especially here in the U.S.