Is (worse) chaos imminent? Is theocracy (vs. GW's longtime stated "democracy") inevitable?

The much-troubled, off-and-on constitution talks in Iraq have collapsed. The LA Times writes, "Deep divisions in Iraq over the country's draft constitution carry seeds that could destroy the Bush administration's beleaguered strategy for turning the strife-torn country into a unified and stable democracy." The story mentions the administration strong-arming Iraqi officials to reach a deal, but "few who have followed the negotiations expect that it can hold."

Duh. Force-feeding democracy -- what are the odds of it succeeding? Ever? Of course, the great neocon minds behind all of this are likely just coming around to the impending disaster. Look for them to begin covering their asses, running around frantically like that scene in "Ferris Bueller" when the school principal believes he's insulted a child's parent. In fact, when was the last time you've heard from any of these nutjobs? They've been as MIA as Cheney. That in itself is telling.

Confirming another poll cited here, the Times article mentions the "Gallup Poll results released Friday show Bush's approval rating fell 5 points in August to 40%, the lowest since he took office." Perhaps even worse, King George is facing increasing doubts and pushback from supposed allies, such as U.S. diplomats, military officers, Pentagon officials, and Republican elected officials.

As bad as Bush's popularity is right now, it could actually get worse over the next few months. Given the expectation that Iraq could become a horrific mess in the next several weeks, and that there's signs of the housing bubble starting to weaken, and the stock market is teetering and entering into what's historically been its worse seasonal period (September-October), and gas prices are hitting new highs at the pump -- well, Rove will have his work cut out for him (assuming he doesn't resign).