There is a long-running charge, or meme, on the left that President George W. Bush is a "dry drunk," an alcoholic who hasn't dealt with the roots of his alcoholism, and thus exhibits alcoholic behavior even when sober.

Dr. Justin Frank explored this in a book called Bush on the Couch. Katherine Van Wormer made the charge in 2002 and Malachy McCourt has gone further, writing in his short 2004 book, Bush Lies in State that he’s still an alcoholic.

How common is this meme? Example one. Example two. Example three. Example four.

So here is my point. Given his falling popularity and recent bizarre behaviors (running away from Cindy Sheehan, comparing Iraq to World War II while New Orleans died) I'm wondering if this meme isn't about to move.

It would certainly be convenient.

Conservatives could easily deflect criticism for the policies they supported by saying the President is mentally ill and it's all his fault. Never mind their continued, and continuing, support for those policies.

That's just politics. It's not personal.

So watch for it. Articles in right-wing blogs questioning the President's stabiity. Learned columns quoting Dr. Frank. Perhaps the discovery of a conservative Dr. Frank. Followed by pressure for the President to resign in favor of Vice President Cheney, "for the good of the country," and an attempt to lay all America's current problems on the immediate past President.

If you start seeing that, you read it here first.