pre-speech edition

* "Mr Bush should take a leaf out of his predecessor Franklin D Roosevelt’s book. On February 23, 1942, FDR told his countrymen: “Your government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst, without flinching or losing heart. You must, in turn, have complete confidence that your government is keeping nothing from you except information that will help the enemy in his attempt to destroy us.”" LINK

* "So Dubya's giving a prime-time address tomorrow, and from all indications, he won't be saying anything new. Rah-rah troops, yay democracy, boo terrorists, stay the course – we all know it like the Pledge of Allegiance by now. One should never underestimate the mind of Karl Rove, of course, but this move has me bumfuzzled. What is to be gained? If the president's advisers think so highly of his rhetorical skills as to believe another of his speeches will stand public opinion on its head, then we really are ruled by madmen. And if the speech doesn't change a significant number of minds, then what?" LINK

* the AP pre-empts the speech, forcing some tortured tense: "In an evening address at an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq, Bush was acknowledging the toll of the 27-month-old war. At the same time, he aimed to persuade skeptical Americans that his strategy for victory needed only time — not any changes — to be successful." LINK

what will the formerlypopularpresident have to say? will everyone be grumpy at him taking over the airwaves like a papal death? will his ratings plunge even further? will he melt into pool of self-loathing? will he tell us to go shopping? or will he tell us to make a report to the fbi if we see someone we dont know getting into our cropduster? will he call all good young repuglicans to enlist? shared sacrifice or shed sacrifice? will rove's attacks last week make more sense in retrospect? have his coterie informed him that he is the most hated man on the planet *and* in america? will his jaw be all twitchy?

is it ok to join in the drinking games despite it being morning time here? perhaps i should get some of the drugs blinky takes.

i might liveblog the event if he says anything non-platitudinous.