A reader: “John—I’ve been keeping my pessimism in check by reading you.

Every time that I start expecting the worst out of President Bush, I read

your column predicting the worst and think – it really can’t be as bad as

Derbyshire expects.

“Have you noticed that your predictions are wrong every time that you expect

the president to cave to the MSM? This guy just doesn’t cave. I know that

his father caved regularly; I know that Reagan caved regularly; I know that

Republican Senators and congressman cave more often than bats.

“But W just doesn’t cave.”

Well, that’s right. W is (IMHO) wrong-headed about a lot of things, but he

is his own guy, and doesn’t much care about elite opinion. That is, I

think, his most appealing quality. If only he were _right_ more often…