Bush has given a gift to the Democrats that will keep giving. '06 anyone? You bet. After the destruction of one of America's most precious cities, the emperor is not only naked but America has her dirty laundry for the world to see.

Question.

Is it safer to be in Baghdad or New Orleans?

Just asking. Because there seems to be something going on there that looks like an insurgency. People shooting at helicopters that are trying to rescue people? It is a situation worthy of "Clockwork Orange."

Please note: I don't excuse the political spin that the Left is using to peddle undue comparisons between 9/11 and Katrina, that Iraq was a waste of time (would they say that if Iraq were much more a success?), and that, like 9/11, we had it coming. I don't share these views which I am hearing a lot of on the streets of New York. But whatever your political persuasion, one this is certain.

It is over for Bush.

He will have three more years to do as he pleases but he cannot inspire an electoral following outside his core base as he once did. This is his nadir to his post-9/11 zenith. He is toppled in the minds of many Americans who, like myself, supported him, the way the statue of Saddam was toppled on what we now know to have been the most glorious, if short-lived, day of Bush's two terms: April 9, 2003. Bar none.

'06 is the year of the Democrat. Andrew Sullivan proclaims Rudy Giuliani for prez in '08. I certainly hope the hell so. I've lived in New York long before he took office as mayor. His legacy has left the city a much safer place, filled with vitality and demonstrating civil order and camaraderie during the late summer blackout of '03. He would be a good domestic president. Needless to say Giuliani would continue to fight the war on Islamism. No Democrat can now promise that despite this huge political coup handed by Bush's total negligence of the nation's ability to respond to this disaster.

We need real leadership now. And we aren't going to get it until Congress switches hands in '06 (It's GOT to!). One potential silver lining: at least this will keep the far Right more at bay. Let's see.

The times have only now just got interesting.