The Washington Post has its usual sunny optimism about Bush foreign policy today. The front-page headline is “U.S. Push for Democracy Could Backfire Against Iran.” This isn’t reporting, it’s crystal ball-rubbing. The headline could add “Or Then Again, It Could Succeed.” Apparently, support for democratic change in Iran should be done covertly, so the Post can then be outraged that Bush is doing something behind their back. (Strangely, I can’t find the article on the Post site this morning, so take the Seattle Times version.) A skeptic might think that the Post enjoyed putting the words “stupid George Bush” on the front page, as Karl Vick and David Finkel reported:

“We are under pressure here both from hard-liners in the judiciary and that stupid George Bush,” activist Emad Baghi said as he waited for his wife and daughter to emerge from interrogation last week.