What the hell was that about? I went into white-knuckle mode driving in to work, waiting for whatever President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell were going to announce at 10 a.m. Now I don't know what to think.

If you haven't heard, Bush delivered a brief statement saying, essentially, that he was really, really glad that the Palestinian Authority has finally named a prime minister, and that once he's been confirmed, he'll release his "road map" for peace. Powell didn't even get to talk.

On NPR, Bob Edwards sounded dumbfounded both at the brevity of Bush's statement and at the fact that Powell didn't say anything. Unfortunately, WBUR Radio (90.9 FM) cut him off and went to The Connection before Edwards and an analyst could kick it around any further. (Memo to Jane Christo: Bad! Bad!)

What to make of it? Who knows? My first impression is that the wheels have totally come off the White House spin machine this week, and that they're just throwing anything they can against the wall, hoping that something will stick and make Bush look good.

This didn't.