"By the time you read about it in the paper it's peaked"
For most things that is true, but not for gold. It takes a fairly long time in the normal course of events for a gold price trend to reverse. It takes a massive change in government policy, in this case a solid commitment to a stable dollar and no more "devaluation." The price of gold in dollars is the screaming telltale of dollar inflation. It mirrors the rate of the FED's creation of dollars beyond the market's ability to absorb those dollars at a steady price level. Bush is committed to strong inflation for the forseeable future because it reduces the real national debt because the debt is denominated in dollars. It is paid back by a certain number of dollars. The dollars can be any value so long as they are officially termed "dollars." The inflation makes those dollars worth less and the debt is repaid with those smaller dollars, i.e. with less value. Fewer assets are needed to repay the same number of dollars.
All governments have historically resorted to outright repudiation or inflation(in truth, partial repudiation) when they have large debts. A country with a weak economy explicitly repudiates. It cannot inflate out of debt because the debt is denominated in a different currency. A major economy government inflates.