I owe George W. Bush a great vote of thanks, for bringing the Presidency down to my level and giving me someone to heap well-deserved scorn upon, to know better than, to see through, to recognize the idiocy of, to mock with reason, to expose without effort, to plumb the depths of without half-trying, and to make me look good in comparison. My sincere thanks to him for these and other similar favors.

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