Bush's Chickenhawks are Coming Home to Roost

The Rude Pundit has a few words to say:

If you take a moment and you sniff the air, what you get is the assaultive whiff of desperation coming from the Bush administration and the right wing of this country. The Rude Pundit refuses to make predictions, but there's a palpable sense growing in America that Kerry may actually win this long, lingering nightmare of a campaign. You get it from the shit smell of the dying Bush/Cheney campaign, the faded deodorant and armpit sweat stink from the conservative punditry.

You get it from the sight of Bush flailing about, like a jackrabbit on an electrified metal floor. It's a pathetic thing, as he hops around on the dais at his various events, searching for some spot where's there's comfort, peace, rest.

As always, discretion is advised when reading the Rude Pundit. But I think he's got a good read on Bush's overall mein right now. The hectic, non-stop schedule, the flailing attacks on Kerry, the absurd trial balloon explanations regarding Al QaQaa--on the latter point, apologies for not mentioning Talking Points Memo in my last post, although I'm sure y'all are all reading Marshall anyway. Team Bush has lost their swagger.

In yet another black eye for this administration, four British former "detainees" at Camp X-Ray (all of whom were eventually released without charge) have sued Donald Rumsfeld and others who were responsible for the horrible and needless turture they were subjected to. In Iraq, militants have siezed more hostages--killing eleven Iraqi soldiers (read 'soldier' as "unemployed young men caught in a desperate situation"), and have threatened to kill a Polish woman and Japanese man if their demand--the withdrawal of Polish and Japanese troops from Iraq--isn't met. Another militant group is claiming--without additional evidence--that they've got a good portion of the missing explosives from Al QaQaa. Sure, they might be lying--just like the next group claiming possession might be--but what happens when we encounter a militant organization that isn't? Considering the destructive capacities of HMX and RDX, can anyone traveling by jet feel safe anymore? Way to go, George W. Bush...

No wonder they're acting desperate--time seems to be closing in on them.