Patriotism in the US at the moment seems to be deep as a puddle. A bit of flag waving, a bit of posturing, a bit of shouting at liberals and - hey presto - you're a patriot.

When war means real sacrifice and real hardship - which a war with Iran would, in the form of even more body bags and even higher gas prices - the appetite for aggression is going fade quickly.

So it would take at least another 9/11 on US soil to make a difference. And so many people are so cynical about 9/11 already that they're just as likely to blame Bush for not protecting them as they are to vote for a militarist noob.

McCain is already taking a beating as a Bush surrogate, when his campaign has barely started. A few months from now it will be too late to break that association.

Even losing a city wouldn't do it. And I'm not sure that Bush is really all that interested in continuing for another few years after suspending the Constitution for security reasons.

I suppose Cheney might decide to nuke Washington and declare himself emperor in chief once the pesky government has been removed, but I don't think even Cheney is insane enough to do that.