It seems like the Democrats have been having the Bush Administration for lunch – at least PR-wise – for the better part of a year. The reasons, in my view, are basically four-fold:

1) The woeful response by FEMA following the post-Katrina levee breaches;
2) The dino-media’s inability or unwillingness to report anything that could, in the slightest way, be perceived as painting the Administration in a favorable light;
3) The inability of the President and the White House to promote: a) the steady gains being made in Iraq on a daily basis, and b) the nation’s economic performance of the past three years – one that, even given high gas prices, has been nothing short of amazing;
4) The inability of the President to get tough on illegal immigration by pushing first and foremost a fence along the nation’s southern border, leaving the dirty work involving the controversial “amnesty” issue for Congress to battle over.

Of course, everyone knows political fortunes run in cycles, and recent events over the past week – the upturn of events in Iraq, particularly – may portend a shift in the President’s fortunes and a critical uptick in his (and his party’s) approval ratings as we head into the summer months preceding the frantic two-month dash to the November off-year elections.

Today especially, there occurred four events that the Democrats simply cannot be happy about:

1) The President’s surprise visit to Iraq to meet with its Prime Minister hot on the heels of three significant events in that country’s push towards political and socio-economic stability: the killing of al-Zarqawi, the “treasure trove” of intelligence retrieved by American and Iraqi forces in various raids conducted the day he was killed, and the seating of the final cabinet members overseeing Iraq’s security and armed forces. Simply put, a bold and intelligent move by the President.

Contrast the President’s bold actions today with those of Democrats John Kerry and John Murtha, who yesterday co-introduced a measure calling for the withdrawal of all American troops in Iraq by the end of this year. Talk about your “profiles in courage”.

2) The announcement that Presidential advisor Karl Rove will not be indicted in the ridiculous witch-hunt by Federal Prosector Patrick Fitzgerald in the Valerie Plame CIA agent outing investigation.

Several weeks ago, a certain liberal blogger and various lefty websites were trumpeting the “news” that Rove had been secretly indicted; today’s news has to be a crushing blow to both Fitzgerald’s investigation and those Democrats seeking to cement their Republican “culture of corruption” message via Rove’s indictment. Of course, that didn’t stop Dem Party Chairman Howard Dean from continuing to assert Rove’s guilt, but deep down even he has to know that this was a blow to a key piece of the Dems’ arguments against the Republicans this fall.

3) The news that the majority of a University of Colorado committee investigating left-wing wacko professor Ward “Little Eichmanns” Churchill have recommended he be fired for committing (in their words) “serious, repeated and deliberate research misconduct” that included plagiarism and fabrication of material.

Churchill, the darling of anti-Bush, anti-war tinfoil-hatted moonbats, has finally been revealed for exactly what he is – a fraud. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that the University of Colorado is only taking this position because they have been hurt both PR-wise and in the pocketbook by Churchill’s controversial rants following the 9/11 attacks. (Of course, you can guarantee this will only up his fee for speaking engagements when he rails against the government for “silencing his right to free speech”. That you can count on.)

4) News that House Speaker Dennis Hastert has placed a much-needed roadblock before the pro-amnesty immigration reform bill passed last month by the U.S. Senate. Saying that the House “needs to take a long look at it”, this is, for all intents and purposes, yet another attempt by House Republicans to get to the right of Democrats attempting to look and act tough on illegal immigration reform.

Hopefully this time it will stick. When it comes to the ballot box this November, whichever party can motivate their base the most will be the one having the most success, and this move by Hastert should be viewed by the majority of a Republican base hoping for a “get tough” stance by their elected leaders on the issue of illegal immigration as a positive development.