28 Days Before

We're closing in on the home stretch of the 2006 campaign season and – dare I jinx it? – things are looking worse and worse for the Evil Empire and its Wonderful Wizard. Here's a brief sample:

Only 46 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling terrorism now, an eight-point drop in two weeks. Only 40 percent think the United States did the right thing in invading Iraq. Worse still for the GOP: It's hard to see how Bush can turn those numbers around. According to the CBS/New York Times poll, 83 percent of Americans believe the president is either "hiding something" or "mostly lying" when he talks about Iraq. Bush's approval rating has dropped to 34 percent in the CBS/New York Times poll; it's at 37 percent in the USA Today/Gallup poll and at 39 percent in the two other polls.

Shit, whatever will the GOP do? I know – fall back on old scare tactics about terrorism and "staying the course". Except, that's not such a good story either…

Five years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. Four years after George W. Bush vowed to keep Iran and North Korea from threatening us with weapons of mass destruction, both seem to be on the road to doing just that. And three and a half years into the president's Iraq adventure, the U.S. death rate is spiking even as hopes of a happy ending are tanking.

(I know, I know…"happy ending". Good one, Beavis)

A lot can happen in four weeks, and God knows Democrats are prone to passivity and reaction when they should continue to proactively pressure the GOP on all fronts. Foleygate will hurt a lot of Republican congressmen, but it is a story more National Enquirer than New York Times. Iraq is a clusterfuck, South Korea has nukes, Iran is almost there, Afghanistan is becoming increasingly re-Talibanized, the president is an incompetent buffoon, the Secretary of Defense is a cranky and indecisive, and – oh yeah – a certain lanky Saudi with bad kidneys is still broadcasting messages of hate on sleeper cell leaders' video iPods around the world. "Staying the course"? What more proof is needed to convince Americans that we are in dire need of a new direction?