Boromir eventually recognized the error of his ways and made the ultimate sacrifice to try to make amends. Does anyone realy expect that from shrub and his ilk?

Try Saruman instead. He managed to sink to Saurons level on almost every issue, only the scale was different and he did it. Think turdblossom as Wormtongue. Think cheney as Denethor.

Saruman and shrub even have similar environmental policies.

The metaphor for the war in Iraq that comes to mind is not a literary one but rather one from a film we have all seen. The film I am thinking of is "Pulp Fiction". I am sure we all remeber when Bruce Willis returns to his apartment to reclaim his watch. He plans to be in and out of his apartment in less then a minute. However, he is surprised to find John Travolta waiting for him. Bruce Willis kills Travolta and events soon sprawl out of control. Before he knows what has happened, Willis is bound, gagged, bleeding and being threatened with sodomy by a hooded gimp and some redneck freaks in a basement. This isn't what Willis had planned, it was all supposed to be easy and go off without a hitch.

In the end, it all works out for Willis which is where the metaphor breaks down. A better metaphor would be to tack on the end of "Requiem for a Dream" where there are 3 different possible outcomes for the war in Iraq. You can choose Forced Electroshock Therapy, Gang Rape or losing a limb. "Stay the Course" and this is the kind of ending you get to look forward to.

Bush as Ahab chasing the white whale (WMD).

Seen as a story of good vs. evil (isn't that how Bush describes this "war on terrorism") in which Melville describes the ill-fated voyage of the leaky Pequod (Bush Administration) and examines the nature of man, his hubris and Ahab's search for salvation.

Cheney and Rove as Queequeg and Daggoo - only slightly more "savage"

Condi as Starbuck.

Rumsfeld as Fedallah, the sinister leader of the boat crew.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushlordrings.htm

Frodo Failed...

Okay, this goes beyond the idea that "Bush is evil, Sauron was evil... so..." In fact, Sauron's greatest asset was his ability to pretend to be something other than what he was. He would show up as the good guy (to the Elves, he presented himself as Annatar, "the Lord of Gifts", before he betrayed them), get everyone to like them, then pursue an agenda that was completely contrary to what everyone expected.

I'm sure there was a time when the people of Numenor would have voted Sauron their President. By 51 - 49% vs. Elendil, I'm sure.

Just the same, Bush has mascaraded himself as a populist strongman, which is completely contrary to his being in reality a pampered worthless weakling. Just the same, Bush has promised his people mountains of gold and world domination, but delivered mountains of gold to his corporate handlers and world domination to the terrorists he has promised to destroy.

Sauron's original promise to the people of Middle Earth (who came to worship him) was to restore the glory of the old days, to bring peace, prosperity and order to everyone. Little did they know that he intended to also own them. Little did he know that you cannot own people without destroying them. And you can go further, where the Men who wanted power, the Nine who greedily seized the rings Sauron made for them, lost all power to him and became his slaves. These are the members of Congress who had bowed down to Bush's wishes and are now falling down with him.

If all this sounds eerily similar, that's because Tolkien wasn't making anything up. He wrote about how greatness is corrupted by hubris, narrow-mindedness, greed and folly; the manifestations of this corruption can be found in all of our history. Ramses II, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Borgia, Hitler. And now Bush. This is an old tale.

(I would say Santorum, in this Great Scheme of Things (tm) would be Gollum... except it's not known whether Santorum has ever been a decent quiet hobbit before his descent into darkness. Maybe. Maybe not.)

"The Sound and the Fury," Part 1-- and guess who Benjy is?

I would almost liken Bush (or anyone else in his hopelessly detached cabal)to Don Quixote...but that would be an insult to the insane old knight.

In Tolkein terms, stretched as they are, George W. Bush would be King Theoden, son of Thengel, the King of Rohan. Cheney would be Grima Wormtongue, turning Theoden away from his family and the advice of his counselors. While the analogy is hardly perfect, we do have to remove Wormtongue (ie impeach Cheney) before we can bring back a good leader to Rohan (by impeaching Bush). Oh, where's Gandalf when we need him? Oh yeah, the Balrog Karl Rove got him...

The Santorum version of the Return of the King could include some great casting choices. The obvious ones are Dick Cheney as Sauron and George W. Bush as Golum but could also include Karl Rove as Grima Wormtongue.

I think Bush's policies are reminiscent or Saruman's care of the Shire. In the name of freedom he made everyone afraid and removed civil liberties. The names given to policies were the opposite of what was actually implemented. He locked people up without rights or trials for long periods of time -- at first with more obvious cause but increasingly because they defied him. Nature was despoiled at first for commerce and then in ways that "didn't even make bad sense". The travesty of the Bush administration isn't only on a global level, but on the personal level of our everyday lives.

And Dr. Rice makes an excellent Grima Wormtongue -- cowed and unsure of how he became aligned with such an obviously wicked person.

Is it Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld? And maybe even more improtanly who is the Gollum? The metaphor gets incredibly twisted since the motivation for the journey has shifted so many times, but just like Peter Jackson maybe we need to just move on to King Kong, (John McCain).