With five days left to go in his presidency, George W. Bush is about to break a record that has stood since 1840. Since then, every president elected in a year ending in a zero has died, been killed, or been shot while in office.
These sort of records mean nothing, particularly when they use random past events to predict the future, or refer to it as “a curse.” But perhaps we need to update history to say that, as of next week, every president elected in a year ending in a zero has died, been killed, been shot, or had a shoe thrown at them during a press conference while in office.