If that's how it's going to end...I can get behind this war.

Not only is George our Churchill, out Prince Hal, our Zippy the Pinhead; he's also our Gary Cooper. At least that's what Geitner Simmons thinks:

In that 1952 film, the theme was Gary Cooper, unilateralist.

Cooper tried to round up support from the townspeople of Hadleyville, Wyo., to stand up to the gunslingers who were about to arrive and devastate the town. But no one would step forward to join him. He faced the danger alone.

Another theme: Time ran out, leading to an unavoidable showdown between the forces of good and evil.

Simmons also points out:

In the final scene (which has no dialogue), Kane and Amy depart:

Without support from the people, Kane will no longer be their leader. Silently, without a backward glance or goodbye, he and Amy ride off into the distance from the community of weak, fickle onlookers in the saved, unremarkable town of Hadleyville ... The contemptible crowd that was unwilling to fight to preserve its law and order remains silent as the buckboard goes out of view, accompanied by the title song's famous melancholy ballad.

Geitner neglects to mention the most memorable shot from the film where takes off his badge and throws it into the dirt, before he rides off into the sunset.

Now if George Bush is willing to step aside and mosey on down to Crawford after he's done gittin' evildoer Saddam Hussein...well, I say bombs away. Of course. like all Bush endeavors, someone will have to clean up after him. But isn't that what Democrats are for?

(Trivia note 1: John Wayne was originally slated to play the part of Kane but declined because he felt the movie was anti-American.
Trivia note 2: Some have interpreted High Noon as a allegory of the HUAC Blacklisting hearings where actors were abandoned by their studios to face charges of being "card carrying Communists" That version doesn't fit the Bush mythology quite so well.)