Bush jams the political Coin Star machine

For those of us who have been Times de-Selected, Free Democracy has a heck-of-a-list that will make you feel simultaneously better and worse.

Bush may believe he has political capital to spare, but some of the power brokers are cutting their losses with his administration.

When the amazingly inattentive and easily distracted American public turns sour on your guy -- well then, he's not your guy anymore.Nothing personal, of course.

But Bush will probably go all lemon-puckered and take it personally because he has delivered - a lot - for them. Now the ungrateful bastards have decided to let reality be reality for awhile because the current media strategies have become unsustainable to the point of being laughable.

Let the leaking and whistleblowing begin.

And on the really bad days, you just know James Baker III will be fingering the key to the safe deposit box that holds the complete and reputation-destroying set of Bush's Texas Air National Guard records. Just in case Bush gets way too lemon-puckered and uncooperative.