The demise of the current administration

This is the bit of news that encourages me to go public with my expectation that the Bush administration will not survive this year's election - they simply lack the winner's effortless superiority, and they know it.

The usual caveats apply, namely that this is a trend forecast, assuming that the current trend that has been set in motion by an underlying, strongly negative dynamism will not be broken by a bold initiative of the administration (very unlikely, since it would have to be bold) or a serious blunder on the opponent's part. Other low key, but important tidbits reinforcing that trend are: dwindling support by the media (f.i. NYT), the story about Hussein's pistol, Tenet etc.

Finally, here is an interesting and comfortingly contrarian piece opposing the very topical hijacking of Operation Overlord by current politicians and monument builders.