9th November:

It's official: Wednesday's mid-term elections represented a savage kick in the conkers for Bush's Republicans. The press are full of it. America has woken up and spoken. Stand on top of Capitol Hill, look towards the horizon and you will see a bright light. That's the rest of the world grinning. Nice to have you back, guys.

The great Rumsfeld rumination: did he fall? Was he pushed? Does anyone actually care? One down....three left. Cheney next, hopefully.

Less than four days ago Bush was questioned about Rumsfeld's position and proclaimed that the salty old dog probably had a couple of years left in him. Now he has gone, and gone ignominiously. When put on the spot today about the accuracy of his earlier comments, Bush said that he knew Rummy was probably on the way out but didn't want to say anything because he, and i'm quoting here, "didn't want to inject such a major issue during the latter stages of an election campaign".

To paraphrase: I knew but I lied because it suited me. Anyone else feel a dose of Roger-Moore-eyebrow coming on? Talk about a fitting epitaph for a Presidency...

PS - has anyone else noticed that Bush tries to open every press conference with a witty little bon mot directed towards the gentlemen of the press? His party took a hammering yesterday and the best opening gambit he could come up with was "Why the glum faces, guys?". You could have heard a pin drop. I practically chewed off a finger in embarrassment. It was worse than staged, worse than cringworthy. It said "business as usual, I don't care". There, in one small sentence, was everything you really need to know.