Contradictions: Just as the White House is working to reshape Bush's image as a man of peace in the midst of a brutal, unprovoked war, so does the president fancy himself a champion of freedom while at the same time repressing free speech in this country like never before.

Fiscal conservatism? Bush seems to be running this country just the way he did his four failed business ventures: into the ground. Total federal revenues have declined three years in a row, and the goverment faces another record budget deficit--expected to exceed last year's unprecedented $374 billion shortfall. "Guess who gets to pay? According to the New York Times, "the president's proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, would control the rising cost of housing vouchers for the poor, require some veterans to pay more for health care, slow the growth in spending on biomedical research and merge or eliminate some job training and employment programs."