Glenn: Klein also warned that if Democrats continued to object to illegal eavesdropping, "they will probably not regain the majority in Congress or the country," because "liberal Democrats are . . . far from the American mainstream" on this issue.

A new poll was just released today and summarized by Andy Sullivan in a Reuters story: "U.S. voters are growing cynical about politics as the newly Democratic Congress has been unable to change Bush administration policies like the war in Iraq, according to a poll released on Thursday."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070726/pl_nm/usa_politics_poll_dc;_ylt=AnYrQ7XaG1FGktZ4k.N9yZSs0NUE

That is, the "liberal Democrats" have not changed Bush's disastrous policies enough yet on the war (and I would posit on the eavesdropping issue mentioned by Klein), so a majority of the public is in danger of tuning out because of cynicism. Klein is so far from reality, he's ridiculous.

Is ridiculous the opposite of serious?

So winners:

• Manipulate intelligence to start an illegal war
• Eavesdrop illegally
• Banish habeas corpus
• Torture
• Out a covert CIA agent
• Obstruct justice in investigating the outing
• Cage votes
• Inject blatant partisanship into the DOJ
• Fire US Attorneys for political reasons
• Attempt to coerce sickbed sign-offs on illegal activity
• Commit perjury to cover up illegal activity within DOJ

Makes me pretty happy to be a loser if that is what constitutes being a winner.

I just came across Michael Gerson's column in today's Washington Post. It starts off with a body blow to conservatives:

Recent books and studies seem to indicate disturbing sexual trends among evangelical Christians. And this time we're not talking about their pastors or political leaders. The new attention is on evangelical teenagers, who reportedly start sex earlier than their mainline Protestant peers.

The column then goes on to dissect the situation further and provides evidence that a teen's entire social network plays a key role in their moral behavior. Of note is the the observation quoted from sociologist Bradford Wilcox that American liberals "talk left and walk right, living disciplined lives and expecting their children to do the same, even when they hold liberal social views".

Of course, these observations don't predict voting preferences, but I would be very surprised by a young person who has grown up in a disciplined household with liberal views choosing to go along with the moral turpitude espoused by Republicans today.

Just when it looked like some sense was coming out of Washington...

I had been encouraged by the reports in the last few days that the Bush Administration was actually starting to take notice of the fact that Saudi Arabia needs to stop exporting suicide bombers and other fighters to Iraq. Of course, this rational behavior could not last.

In a story just posted on the NY Times website, David Cloud reports that the Bushies now want to cut a weapons deal with the Saudis that will total $20 billion over the next ten years. Of course, since the Israelis depleted their resources with their recent bombing in Lebanon, they will need a package worth $30 billion over the same time so that the desired "balance of power" can be maintained in the region.

Buried in the last two paragraphs is the point I find most disturbing in all of this:

Israeli officials have made specific requests aimed at eliminating concerns that satellite-guided bombs sold to the Saudis could be used against its territory, administration officials said.

Their major concern is not a full-scale Saudi attack, but the possibility that a rogue pilot armed with one of the bombs could attack on his own or that the Saudi government could one day be overthrown and the weapons could fall into the hands of a more radical regime, officials said.

Emphasis added.

Yep, State Department officials don't even have to do their own thinking. The Israelis are happy to tell them that supplying this much weaponry to a country run by a royal family whose grip on power could slip might result in the weapons reaching the hands of unfriendly folks. Yes, let's put $20 billion worth of WMD in the backyard of the world's biggest hotbed of Al Qaeda recruits. The power of the logic is just overwhelming.