"Who are these people with such low self-esteem that they need a war to feel better about themselves? Can I recommend, instead of a war, some sit-ups, maybe a fruit cup." — Bill Hicks

After London police fired seven bullets into the head of Jean Charles de Menezes — who, in fact, was not a terrorist; he only played one in their fantasies — British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Menezes' family he was "desperately sorry" about the mixup.

We know exactly what you mean, Mr. Blair. A lot of people in this country fantasized that Mr. Bush was presidential timber. Twice. The number of those folks are dropping daily, of course, with the latest Quinnipiac poll showing 41 percent of the American people approve of the job Mr. Bush is doing. But the rest of us have been feeling "desperately sorry" about the state of political affairs since January 2001 when a blatantly partisan Supreme Court inserted Mr. Bush into the White House by a 5 to 4 vote, thus nullifying the will of the people.

Since then, we've been "desperately sorry" about so many things that we can no longer keep track of them. Which I guess is the point of the Republican "Abuse The People" campaign — keep hitting them with fresh new outrages, and they'll forget the ones that happened the day before yesterday.

Lately, for example, this illegal war in Iraq has left us feeling "desperately sorry." It sidetracked the real war on terror, increased the number of terrorist attacks around the world — like that unpleasantness in your public transportation conveyances, Mr. Blair — and left Osama bin Laden a free man. We're also "desperately sorry" for the 1,800+ troops who've been killed, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who've had their lives and families destroyed by collateral damage and the billions of dollars of our money pissed down that sandy hole.

And, we're going to continue to be "desperately sorry" about Iraq for years because, according to a survey just released by the surgeon general of the U.S. Army, 30 percent of our soldiers have developed symptoms of mental disorder months after returning home. These include anxiety, depression, nightmares, anger and an inability to concentrate — tedious little things that won't clear up for years and may worsen into the dreaded malaise, developed by Persian Gulf War vets now living underneath interstate bridges, called post-traumatic stress disorder. (They're living there partly because the Bush Administration has severely cut Veterans Administration's budget and veterans' benefit, thus inspiring the new Army recruitment slogan "Support Our Troops My Ass").

We're "desperately sorry" about the CAFTA bill that just squeaked through the Congress and the so-called "Energy Bill" that's on the fast track. This bill will give $14.5 billion in tax breaks to such progressive entities as Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, coal and nuclear power corporations, not to mention the corporate corruption poster child, Archer Daniels Midland, to make ethanol from all that genetically modified corn they grow. We're also desperately sorry that the EPA chose this week to delay the release of its report on fuel economy, which would have shown cars and trucks are much less fuel efficient than even a decade ago. Funny, that energy bill doesn't even mention regulations on fuel economy.

We're "desperately sorry" about Mr. Bush's nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court and "desperately sorry" the Republicans in the Senate have browbeaten the Democrats into asking Mr. Roberts only "appropriate" questions. The blogger Atrios suggests that this browbeating is so bad that the only permissible question for Mr. Roberts will be "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" I don't agree with Atrios. There are other questions those tough-as-leather Democrats can ask: Which is your favorite of the Three Stooges, and why? And, while we're on the subject, we're feeling "desperately sorry" for the spinelessness of the Democratic Party.

Ultimately, we're "desperately sorry" because we know what would end the war on terror, but it's something that won't happen. That is, the war on terror will be over when Bush and Blair are removed from office.