Ostensibly it’s because his campaign wants to make sure everything’s perfect on launch day, even though they know they’re already dealing with impossible expectations and this will make them that much more impossible. In fact, I think it might be because Congress is in recess in August and he’ll have the headlines to himself. If he announces now, his press coverage runs side by side with stories about spiking violence, Republican defections, and disastrous opinion polls, none of which do him any good given his own position on the war. Or maybe he’s just doing the actorly thing and building suspense for his grand entrance. I don’t know, and I don’t much care anymore.

You made a valiant effort, Frank, particularly with your penultimate point. But I think I’m writing in Hitchens/Hirsi Ali next November. If only they were eligible.