Republican dirty tricks

Late last month, readers of the conservative web site NewsMax discovered this juicy tidbit in a column by Ronald Kessler: "In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an 'October surprise' to help win the November congressional elections."

Christ on his throne! Granted, the revelation was a bit vague: it wasn't clear who these Republican insiders were, or whether Rove actually used the loaded phrase in question. No matter. For liberals dreaming of big Democratic gains in November's midterm elections, the prospect of late-breaking machinations by Bush's Brain was terrifying — and, at the same time, utterly predictable. After all, just four days before the 2004 presidential election, a fresh video from Osama bin Laden reminded voters of George W. Bush's claim to be tougher on terrorism than John Kerry.