Well, on the one hand, the Bush takeover (I can't call it "Republican", because that'll mean including these goons in the company of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt) seems pretty complete: a scandal very reminiscent of Watergate finally breaks with the wiretapping issue, and instead of it being a sure way for Junior and Co. to the court and thence to jail, people are talking about it as a plus to Republicans. And that's just one scandal. Never mind the guy nobody in D.C. remembers ever talking to, Mr. Abramoff. Never mind the possible impending doom in the shape of Karl Rove's indictment over the Valerie Plame leak. Never mind any number of scandals, they all seem to work in the administration's favor. How did we come to this? I mean, one third-rate burglary, and Nixon folded, didn't he?

But on the other hand, the Bushies are living on borrowed time. Sure, Junior has no possibility to run for a third term but heck, if his handlers think he's the best front man for their racket, they COULD trot out some funky story about "desperate times" and "desperate measures" and how we should re-elect him because Iraq is like WWII and Bush is like FDR. And even if they do, if these "compassionate conservatives" lose the White House and the Congress (no such luck for the liberals in the judiciary), they can kiss their aspirations for anything goodbye: the next administration and Congress would lustily begin undoing all that they've done. In fact, as more and more scandals surface (and there's definitely more where all this came from), this outcome is all but assured.

Yet, where does it leave us, American citizens? In a mess, of course. The Bushies have been busily sawing the branch we're all sitting on, but they've a helicopter standing by. We do not. Already people are beginning to suffer and die because of the messed-up Medicare policies. Tax cuts for the wealthy will do significant damage to our economy, raise unemployment and probably even lead to a depression that will mar the next presidency as sure as rain. And that may well lead to a resurgence of another "compassionate conservative" cabal, which will argue that the Democratic administration has only made things worse.

So what do we do? Things will be difficult in the future regardless of whether Bush is impreached and brought to trial, and regardless of how the elections of 2006 and 2008 go. What we, the voters, have a duty to do is to stop falling for the cheap scare tactics and make sure that the lunacy of the 2000 and 2004 elections does not happen again. What the leaders of the opposition to the current administration have to do (be they Democrats or whoever else) is grow some damn backbone and actually risk their political future for a worthy cause, because otherwise they are risking the livelihood (and the lives) of three hundred million people who are, after all, their employers.

Gee, thanks for nothing! Now science confirms that which we already know, i.e. there's a GOOD reason why Rove and Co. play the fear card. Appeal to the base emotions! Democrats should cease their boring, reality-based speeches, and instead repeat something obvious and emotion-inspiring very rapidly many many times. Then and only then will they take control of the country!

Remember the amazingly intellectual speeches of Lincoln? Neither does anyone else! Thing O' The Past (tm), ladies and gentlemen. We live in the New Stone Age, where information is imparted through short, but succinct, monosyllabic grunts.

Ug want Kerry! Ug want Kerry NOW!