but for the wrong reasons. As I've been reiterating over and over again, the terrorists -- if few others -- realize that the greatest thing they have going for them is the collossal incompetence of the Bushies, aided and abetted by the complete failure of the Republican Congress to hold them accountable. Why should we not expect them to do whatever it takes to preserve their invaluable assets? Why else would bin Laden have pulled off his own October Surprise Br'er Rabbit ploy in 2004 that probably cost Kerry the election?

I am convinced that bin Laden is planning another October Surprise this year, only this time it is likely to be another 9-11 scale attack or attacks.

Recall the huge spike in Bush's approval ratings following 9-11, a spike that gradually declined but until recently has allowed him to proceed with his disastrous incompetence with the opposition afraid to call him to account. Why would bin Laden not deduce that the same results would follow a similar attack shortly before the coming election, and ensure the continuation of Bush's rubber stamp Congress?

In other words, it is the Bushies very incompetence that has saved us from further major terrorists on home soil since 9-11. But that criminal incometence has caused the country far greater harm than any number of such attacks.

But if the Democrats fail to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again, Bush's useful ideocy would be jeopardized and all bets will be off.

The same applies to the 2008 elections, after which Bush will -- hopefully -- no longer be a factor.

Does that mean we should support Bush and vote Republicans into power in Congress again? Of course not. But his opposition should be aware that another Br'er Rabbit ploy is coming and take measures to preempt it.

They can start by continually emphasizing just how helpful the Bushies have been to the terrorists, how completely the Republican Congress has failed to hold them accountable, and the symbiotic relationship between the Bushies and the terrorists.

This would also help to make ideotic statements like those of Hatch backfire.

Olbermann's commentary for the most part was right on. But I think he was a mite confused himself here:

"In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld’s speechwriter was adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis. For in their time, there was another government faced with true peril—with a growing evil—powerful and remorseless.

"That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld’s, had a monopoly on all the facts. It, too, had the “secret information.” It alone had the true picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in terms like Mr. Rumsfeld’s -- questioning their intellect and their morality.

"That government was England’s, in the 1930’s."

Right description, wrong country. It perfectly describes the German government, the budding fascist Nazi regime of Hitler. And it is no small irony that the Bushies, of all people, have suddenly hit on fascism as their buzzword of choice, while steadily converting this country to their own brand of fascism.

The Chamberlain government had more than its share of faults. But it was the polar opposite of the Bush regime, and to compare the two is to do an unwarranted service to the Bushies. Chamberlain was symptomatic of, not against, the prevailing opinion throughout most of Europe at the time; the horrors of World War I had been so bad that they couldn't imagine anyone wanting a repetition, and would do anything to avoid it. Hence Munich and then World War II.

But Chamberlain did come around, and it was his government that declared war on Germany following its invasion of Poland in 1939. Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, after the colossal mistakes of Chamberlain -- and the British People -- became self-evident.

There's another ironic parallel with the Nazis. The steady denial, hyped and totally false claims of progress about Iraq, Katrina and other areas spouted by the Bushies are eerily reminiscent of what came out of the German government when its own shit began to hit the rotating blades.

Geolrge W. Bush really is a bold, decisive leader. So is the first lemming over the cliff.