out with the old, in with the new

clouds or sunshine for 2007?

The AP doesn’t want to commit, I guess:

Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007

AP Poll: Americans Optimistic for 2007

the truth hurts

Hitchens on Gerald Ford:

To have been soft on Republican crime, soft on Baathism, soft on the shah, soft on Indonesian fascism, and soft on Communism, all in one brief and transient presidency, argues for the sort of sportsmanlike Midwestern geniality that we do not ever need to see again.

Ouch.