"A pretty brazen act" -- Washington Post In the classic Monty Python film, "The Search for the Holy Grail," an already diminutive swordsman stuns his foe by insisting on fighting on, despite having already lost both arms and legs. It would appear that President Bush, too, has no legs to stand on, having lost the nation's support for his war in Iraq, lost Congress last November, and floundering at sub-Nixonian approval rating levels in the latest Zogby poll. So yesterday, when Bush, as the Post reported, "requested -- one might even say demanded -- that Congress give him yet another $46 billion for his military campaigns, for a total of $196 billion this fiscal year," the paper stood aghast, disbelieving, asking and answering "What explains Bush's cocksureness?" Considering Bush's abysmal approval ratings, the widespread opposition to his war in Iraq and the Democratic control of Congress, that was a pretty brazen act. But Bush yesterday made it clear that [t]here will be no search for common ground, no outreach to critics, not even further explanation of his policies. According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, nearly 70 percent of Americans -- an overwhelming majority, by any standard -- think Congress shouldn't give Bush all the money he's requesting for the war. And 43 percent think the request should be reduced sharply. The president evidently is still counting on his ability to use the fear of appearing weak or unpatriotic to stampede skittish Congressional Democratic [sic] into giving him what he wants. Who would bet that Bush will have his head handed to him, in the end? Illustration by Joe Sutliff, After Monty Python and the Holy Grail