The Zeitgeist Checklist BY DANA MILBANK

The Zeitgeist Checklist BY DANA MILBANK

MONKEY BUSINESS

Last week: 6 Weeks on list: 5

1Republicans. Sure, there's stuff going on in Lebanon and Iraq, but Washington is more intrigued by Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) calling a young man of Indian descent "Macaca" -- a type of monkey -- and welcoming the Fairfax native to America. The filmed insult, and the effort to attribute it to the man's mullet hairdo, which Allen confused with a mohawk, may not scalp Allen in Virginia but puts his presidential prospects in deep caca.

EVERYBODY'S A WINNER

Last week: 2 Weeks on list: 6

2Middle East. The world -- including much of the Israeli public -- concludes that Hezbollah is the big winner in its month-long war with Israel, a conflict now suspended by the U.N. cease-fire. Israel's government could fall after its military fails to subdue guerrillas or rescue seized soldiers. The lone holdout in the otherwise unanimous verdict: President Bush. "Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis," he judges.

FOR EVERY ACTION, OVERREACTION

Last week: 1 Weeks on list: 2

3Homeland Security. Cable-news hysteria follows foiling of British plane-bomb plot. Crazed 59-year-old woman armed with hand cream and urinating on the floor forces London-to-Dulles flight down in Boston. Bedclothes in cargo container from Pakistan cause six-hour evacuation at Port of Seattle. Meanwhile, a Carter-appointed federal judge rejects Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, beginning a probable journey to the Supreme Court.

ALL OVER BUT THE SHOOTING

Last week: 4 Weeks on list: 8

4Iraq. The country hits yet another macabre milestone: New figures show a record 3,438 civilians killed in Iraq in July -- a proportion of the population equivalent to 39,000 Americans. Even friends at home abandon Bush. National Review editor warns that Iraq is turning into another Vietnam. George Will says John Kerry was right and mocks Bush's "illusion that the war in Iraq is central to the war on terrorism."