He’s spoken out against Rumsfeld’s incompetent handling of the Iraq war, but he’s still putting Democrats between a rock and an anti-war base.
From the Wash Post:
This should be the Democrats’ moment, if they can translate the national anger over Iraq into a coherent strategy for that country. But with a few notable exceptions, the Democrats [...]

The Bush administration has declassified and released (pdf) the summary of the National Intelligence Estimate that was partially leaked last week.
I’m not sure why Bush thinks this validates his strategy, or demonstrates that the leak was misleadingly narrow.
Here’s my summary of the summary.

Could the Massachusetts Governor have the ear of the Religious Right?
From the WSJ:
The tall barrier many see as blocking his acceptance by evangelical voters–the fact that many Americans view Mormonism with suspicion or worse–may prove to be a mirage. “Everyone I talked to said they didn’t have a problem with it,” one attendee told me. [...]

Yes it’s John Stewart, yes it’s the Daily Show and yes he’s a liberal…but could Fox News be any more transparently partisan?

I long for the days without pundits…oh please please come back.

A couple months after we invaded Iraq I was in a cafe in Paris talking politics. Guy I was talking to was a very pro-American French lawyer. He considered the US his second home. He got off a funny, self-deprecating line about the irrelevance of French reaction. “What difference does it make? We are a [...]

I have long had that impression, in spite of his obligatory shilling for the Democratic Party and its candidates. Clarence Page thinks so too (at RealClearPolitics, reprinted from the Chicago Tribune), even as the junior Senator from Illinois is “mightily adept at pleasing the party’s liberal-progressive base.” “I think there’s a hunger right [...]

When the leading conservative mag comes out and basically says you’re done…things ain’t looking up.
From the Weekly Standard:
In recent weeks, Allen has gone from presidential contender to embattled senator. His mishandling of a name-calling incident, and his ham-handed denial and subsequent revelation that his mother was raised Jewish, have almost eliminated him from the field [...]

The Religious Right is concerned that the tide is turning the other way, so they’re looking to a familiar political scapegoat…the scary gay!
But get this one…they’re now saying that gay marriage would inhibit their freedom of expression! Whoa…
From the NY Times:
To revive some of the emotions around the issue, several organizers said they were taking [...]

With so many former Generals saying that Donald is simply incompetent, when will Bush listen to the people on the ground who know first hand how bad Iraq is instead of the guy who simply delegates from afar?
From CBS:
(CBS/AP) Retired military officers on Monday bluntly accused Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of bungling the war [...]

Even if the Dems do regain power, how could they turn down the pleas from the Iraqi President to stay?
Read more:
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in an interview, asked for a long-term US military presence in Iraq, saying his country will need two permanent US air bases to deter “foreign interference.”
“I think we will be [...]

Watch the whole thing and tell us what you think.
Also, here’s a 20 minute version of the interview.

For the first time in my life. My family and my oldest, best friends would probably disown me.
Am I serious? Probably not. I’m a deep-dyed independent and anti-partisan. But I’ve been affected by Alan Stewart Carl’s rueful, truth-telling rant that at this political moment, at least, there is no viable, vital [...]

I’ve got to hand it to the Democrats. The strategy of allowing the Republicans to “thrash out” their differences on the treatment and prosecution of detainees has played out exactly as planned…for the Republicans. Don’t let anyone convince you that you can go to the well too often…that is if you are a Republican and [...]

A friend of mine got some Iranian news sources which reveal a lot of strange theological powers being given to Ahmedinejad, including the fact that he saw a halo around himself and that he might be the next Muslim Prophet. I have a full list here.

Stolen from Blue In Texas:
One day a US Senator is struck by lightning and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, [...]

Oh boy…this is not good news.
The Hill (the periodical, not the person) is reporting that Terry “Global Crossing” McAuliffe will be the money guy for Hillary in 2008.
From the story:
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has told business associates and Democratic donors that he will chair Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign [...]

You read it right. I deny the existence of the vital center, the radical middle. It doesn’t exist.
Oh, there are centrists, believers in the fighting middle who espouse centrist ideas. But there is no political reality behind these people and their thoughts. There is no coherent philosophy or charismatic leader. Centrism is an amorphous idea [...]

He has a some nice things to say about the difference between being a President and an ex-President, as well as reaching across the aisle to get things done.
No potshots, just a smart guy talking about how he wants to help the world.

So the guy sets his house on fire and as his wife and kids are running around in circles, panicked, screaming, “what should we do, what should we do?” the man looks at his wife and says, “You figure it out. Do I have to do everything around this place?”
There are loud demands for Democrats [...]