ELECTION AHOY

It's hard not to discern the heartfelt anticipation and emotion in the hearts of those friends of mine of all ages who are supporting the Democrats, and also the cheerful confidence in the looks of those friends (of which I have none) who are supporting the Republicans.

My gut feeling is that the Democrats should emerge triumphant, even in the absence of blockbuster candidates. But then, politics and human nature have never stooped to dance to the tune of lowly rationality, that annoying little thing that somehow always crops up in human affairs. In any case, I get a feeling that should Bush lose, two major factors might be responsible for that; religious conservatives' loss of faith (pun intended) in him for not introducing prayer and supporting creationism in schools, and much more importantly, and hopefully, the disillusionment of American families whose sons and daughters are dying in Iraq. Thomas Friedman's readable recent article in the NYT makes it clear; Bush and his neo cons think American troops are stupid, plus, in trying to absolve Rumsfeld of blame, they have inadvertently heaped insults on the generals and the army.

Meanwhile, last minute PR photos of Bush with babies and siblings are wondrously rib tickling.