If the history of the U.S. presidential elections is observed as a series of rivalries between two candidates, a Democrat and a Republican, in eighty per cent of the contests in the last one hundred years the taller man has won.

This does not look like a bad prospect. But should John Kerry wear high heels from September to November, just to maximise his advantage? Seriously, the incumbent president should be hoisted from office, in Malcolm X's words, by any means necessary.

P.S. I think there should be a word for a phenomenon in which the specific current referent of a term (as a holder of office, or Dubya) creates a delinquent contradiction with what is generally understood by the term (as an institution, or presidency) and therefore renders the normal use of the term without further attributes absurd. The word would work almost like oxymoron, but it would specifically refer to an irreconcilable paradox created by a term and its present content rather than simply a combination of utterly conflicting terms.

Thinking of the original meaning of oxymoron ('pointedly foolish'), perhaps in this particular case we could still utilise the existing word and talk about a four-year oxymoron. 11:21