Who says liberals don’t have a sense of humor? I ran across satirical editorial over at The New Republic (free registration required). Alex Massie is lamenting the Yankees failure to advance in the playoffs:

It’s déjà vu all over again. For the seventh successive year the New York Yankees have failed to win the World Series. No wonder it’s open season in New York. Repeated failure demands a sacrificial scapegoat. George Steinbrenner may have decided that Joe Torre’s head must go, while the media–perplexingly–argues that it’s all Alex Rodriguez’s fault. These are targets that are obvious and tempting but, nonetheless, inadequate.

Yankee fans should aim higher. Can it really be a coincidence that the most-storied and successful team in American sports has failed to win while George W. Bush has occupied the Oval Office? I think not. The successor to the Curse of the Bambino is George W. Bush’s hex upon the Yankees. Call it the Revenge of the Hanging Chad.

Before this dark period in Yankeeland:

The Clinton-era Yankee dynasty was remarkable for one thing above all: These were Yankees you could love. Or at least not hate. They had a mixture of suave youngsters and scrappy veterans that sportswriters love. Four titles were added between 1996 and 2000.

Enter Dubya:

In 1996, the Yankee payroll was $66 million; this year it was $195 million–a spending splurge even the federal government might admire.

The parallels continue. As the United States has squandered goodwill internationally, so have the Yankees domestically. And one can see why.

In fact if Americans could apply their understanding of baseball to the country’s relations with the rest of the world, then perhaps they would be better placed to understand how the United States came to have an image problem. After all, the New York Yankees are to Major League Baseball what America is to the rest of the countries of the world. The Evil Empire indeed.

Yep. Its now official. Bush is responsible for everything. Go Astros! Oh, and Halliburton.