The Zeitgeist Checklist BY DANA MILBANK
The Zeitgeist Checklist BY DANA MILBANK

Sunday, August 20, 2006

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."

GRASSY KNOLL FIELD DAY

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

5Mystery. Authorities get a weird confession in the decade-old JonBenet Ramsey case. Reclusive Russian mathematician solves the century-old Poincaré conjecture (we don't know what it is, either). It can't be long before we find the WMD in Iraq, learn who killed OJ's ex-wife, and figure out what the lump under Bush's jacket was when he debated Kerry.

LOST AND FOUND

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

6Science. Pluto gets a reprieve, as astronomers decide it can still be a planet. But they cheapen the honorific by bestowing planethood on three others: Ceres, Charon and Xena. NASA, casting doubt on its ability to explore planets, reports that it can't find its tapes of the 1969 moon landing.

CRAWFORD CAN WAIT

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

7White House. Bush, trying to pull election debate back to terrorism, leaves the ranch for roving photo ops at Pentagon, State Department and National Counterterrorism Center. But voters aren't impressed: Pew Research poll finds only 2 percent want to hear about terrorism. Bush's overall public support limps to 37 percent from 36 percent in July.

ANOTHER GODZELLA?

Last week: 3 Weeks on list: 3

8Democrats. Sen. Joe Lieberman, vanquished in the Connecticut Democratic primary, gets revenge in a new poll giving the new independent a 12-point lead over Democratic nominee Ned Lamont. Gleeful White House hands Lieberman tacit endorsement by refusing to back the Republican. Democrats worry a victorious Lieberman, dissed last week by his colleagues, could turn into another Zell Miller.

CATEGORY FIVE KITSCH

Last week: 9 Weeks on list: 2

9Katrina. White House declares a political storm watch that will remain in effect at least through the Aug. 29 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin shrewdly calls off the fireworks and comedy show, but the city will have services and somber concerts while networks flood the country with reports showing how little has been rebuilt since the storm leveled the city and killed more than 1,700.

THAT BURNING SMELL

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1*

10Technology. Zeitgeist Checklist, written on a Dell laptop, narrowly escapes disaster when it is discovered that the computer battery is not one of the 4 million recalled because of a fire hazard. Experts warn that iPods, BlackBerrys, Game Boys, cellphones and anything else using lithium ion batteries could ignite without warning.

* RESURFACES IN ZEITGEIST AFTER AN ABSENCE.

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