HELLO, MODO

Congratulations, Maureen Dowd, you're back on my good side.

The significant thing about her wednesday column is this: No matter how you repackage a Bush, it always ends up the same, he always ends up out of touch with everyday Americans.

Craig Patterson, a 45-year-old ironworker in St. Louis worried about dwindling construction jobs, summed it up for USA Today: "I trust Bush with my daughter, but I trust Clinton with my job."

Mr. Bush and Karl Rove may be disproving Santayana: They have dedicated themselves to learning from the history of the first President Bush, and yet they seem doomed to repeat it anyway.

Really, that quote could have come from 11 years ago. But it dates all the way back to... monday.

Boy it feels like ages since those midterms, huh?