US: At his Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday, President Bush was asked if he regretted flying out to an aircraft carrier on May 1st, kitted out in flight suit, to declare the end of major hostilities in Iraq while standing before a large banner declaring "Mission Accomplished", writes Conor O'Clery
The stage-managed event has become an embarrassment for the President, not least because of the fact that more US soldiers have now died in Iraq than were killed in the war.
Moreover, US officials are now admitting that Saddam Hussein, whom Mr Bush declared as recently as October 8th to be "no more", might actually be directing the bloody insurgency in Iraq.
Also, after the American public was told that Mr Bush had to fly out in a combat aircraft to the Abraham Lincoln carrier as it was not within helicopter reach, the White House had to admit that this was, er, not true.
The ship had been instructed to circle just beyond the horizon while the event was organised. Can't trust these navy guys to keep quiet.
Mr Bush replied to the question by saying that the "Mission Accomplished" sign was in fact put up by the members of the Abraham Lincoln, as their mission had been accomplished.
"I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff - they weren't that ingenious, by the way," he said.
Mr Bush managed thereby to get even more caught up in the tangled web that had been weaved. His press officials were forced to admit after the press conference that the White House had asked a private contractor to produce the sign - at the request of the ship's crew of course.
Mr Bush also startled many observers this week by his assertion that the increased bloodshed in Iraq was a result of American progress. "The more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react," he said.
That's one way of putting a spin on bad news. The more Iraq descends into chaos, Mr Bush seemed to be saying, the more the US is winning the battle to bring democracy to Iraq. The country has to be destroyed to be saved.
The deteriorating situation in Iraq is likely to be a big problem for the Bush re-election campaign. However, the US President got one whopping piece of good news this week that could have a big impact on the 2004 contest. This was that the US economy expanded at 7.2 per cent in the three months ending September, the fastest growth rate in any quarter since 1984.
The spurt in growth may not last and it is still a jobless recovery, but this figure will secretly dismay many Democratic strategists who hope to beat Mr Bush next year on economic issues.
Now the Republicans might be able to seize ownership of the slogan "It's the economy, stupid".
Meanwhile, all is not well among the Democratic candidates, who spent much of their last debate on Sunday attacking each other, especially Howard Dean, who has surged into a huge lead in New Hampshire where the first primary will be held in January. The rivalry nearly resulted in blows at a campaign event held this week by Congressman Dick Gephardt, during which a Dean staff member (what was he doing there?) complained that he was shoved and insulted.
The big Democratic winner out of all this was She- Who-Is-Not-Running. In a poll conducted among Democrats nationwide to measure support for hypothetical candidates, Sen Hillary Clinton got 43 per cent support, followed by Gen Wesley Clark (10), Sen Joseph Lieberman (8), Gephardt (8), Sen John Kerry (7), Dean (7) and Sen John Edwards (5). When Ms Clinton's name was removed, Dean topped the poll, which can only mean that given a chance, Dean supporters would switch to Hillary in a New York heartbeat.
One member of the Bush administration that Democrats would most like to get rid of by winning 2004 is John Ashcroft, head of the Justice Department.
A born-again Christian, one of Mr Ashcroft's most publicised acts was to cover up the naked breasts of a statue of Justice in the Justice Department lobby.
The main criticism of his department - from both the right and left - has been over its administration of the Patriot Act, passed six weeks after 9/11, which gives the FBI sweeping powers to investigate terrorism. It also allows the FBI to check what books or Internet sites readers were using in libraries.
This has led to a revolt of the nation's librarians, whose associations in most states have passed resolutions condemning the Patriot Act, and many have deliberately purged their records to protect the privacy of readers. Their action has reportedly infuriated Mr Ashcroft.
Now the Justice Department has been caught out purging its own reports.
The department, which is responsible for enforcing America's equality laws, posted the result on its website of an investigation of its own record in the treatment of minorities. Half of it was blacked out.
However, in Arizona, the operator of a website called thememoryhole.org managed to read the full document by using software to highlight the blackened parts and delete them, whereupon the original report came up in full.
Surprise, surprise, it harshly criticised Mr Ashcroft's department, and cited complaints from minority employees working there of "stereotyping, harassment and racial tension".
At his press conference this week the President delighted his linguistic fans with another Bushism. He was asked if national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's role as head of a new National Security Council oversight group on Iraq meant demotion for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Mr Bush suggested her Iraq duties were a natural outcome of her job description. Ms Rice's job is to "deal inter-agency and to help unstick things that may get stuck", he said.
"That's the best way to put it. She's an unsticker." The Unsticker stood by, with arms folded, looking rather bemused.