@realname: if Greenwald is merely a ploy to increase hit-counts, then Kunstler would be even better, in my view. And, so he could be a coup for Salon because he too would increase hit-counts. That compute for ya, cowboy?

I know, it's probably a cheap comparison, but did anyone else think of Wee-bey taking all those murders for the Barksdales in *The Wire* when Libby was sentenced today?

I did. Just as Wee-Bey could have taken *everyone* down, had he decided to do so, just imagine what Libby could say, if he decided to. He knows *everything.* Or, at least, a lot of stuff Dick Cheney would just as soon see buried forever.

I keep hoping just one person in an Administration that amounts to a criminal conspiracy, will decide to do the right thing, and talk, and talk, and talk.

Libby, all by himself, could bring down Cheney, Bush, and who knows who else in Congress.

It's as if he's a member of the mob, taking one for the team, and never saying a word. The question is, of course, WHY is he observing such a strict omerta, after being left out there to hang in the wind by his masters? What has he been promised, for instance?

I think about what that guy knows, and what would happen if he revealed what he knows before these guys leave office... too bad it won't happen. Libby could bring down the whole thing, all by himself, if he chose to.

Was there a *single* Republican, in the House or in the Senate, who actually thought the "surge" was going to make a damned bit of difference? Was there even one?

I doubt it. Any reasonably intelligent, informed adult, knew the whole thing was bullshit from the moment it was announced.

Which means--aside from the predictable conclusion that every member of the GOP who supported/supports the surge is a lying piece of pond-scum--that, apparently, GOP congress-scum really don't care how many US soldiers die for their political careers.

I wish there were a word in the english language to cover this. "Traitor" doesn't seem quite colorful enough.

Let's state the obvious, just one more time. Way back in 2002 was it? or 2003? Eric Shinseki was exactly right: it was going to take 500K combat troops, and requisite support-personnel, to pacify Iraq, and keep it that way. Shinseki spoke nothing more than simple truth, according to his professional experience.

Clearly, he was right. If anything, he was too optimistic, if you ask me.

Now? Now it would take more like a million combat troops, and support personnel, to make a real difference. Assuming all that power was managed correctly.

Surely every GOP congress-scum knows this, right? So, I ask, how do they, and the yellow-dog dems who vote with them, look at themselves in the mirror in the morning? How? they ALL know this entire bloody thing is just theatre. GW Bush trying to delay the inevitable until he can attempt to blame the inevitable on someone else.

Makes me want to puke.

I keep thinking, what goes around comes around. What in hell will come around on us for Iraq?

...that the ONLY reason turncoat-Joe is even in the Senate now is because nearly every republican voter in Connecticut voted for him. Even if every Dem had voted for Lamont, the race would have been close. Lamont probably would have squeaked it out, but it was GOP voters who put Lieberman in office.

I, for one, have never understood how anyone could vote for the guy. I thought he was a total fucking idiot as the veep candidate in 2000..and he's just gotten worse since.

Joe is an opportunist, pure and simple. He loves his job as a Senator, and he likely would have sold his mother for hamburger and his children into sex-slavery to keep that job. He didn't have to go that far, but he did have to sell out completely to his GOP constituents.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Joe Lieberman, on the plain evidence of his words and actions, is among the most contemptible people ever to hold public office, and just when you think he can't go any lower, he does.

Nice piece, Heather.

I agree with a previous poster: Chase pulled off a truly stunning piece of theatre here: I thought the last scene was a dark, anxious, claustrophobic nightmare. This is how Tony lives...his entire life. This is what he sees, and how he feels, when he's not asleep. We might wish him in Hell, but we need not. Chase made it perfectly clear with that last scene that Tony Soprano is already in Hell. And always has been.

David Chase is a genius story-teller, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next..

During the 30 years or so that I've followed our national politics I've discovered an interesting corollary, brought up yet again by this colloque between Snow and reporters.

It's nothing original, but worth a thought or two.

I've noticed it especially when listening to GW Bush, but it also comes to mind when listening to Condi Rice, and certain other Bushco acolytes.

The corollary is this: any time any Bushco minion, or any politician, sounds like complete, blithering idiot, it's because they're lying. None of them lie very well, to the trained observer, anyway. Lieberman is especially illustrative. He almost always sounds like a complete retard...and every time he does, it's because he's lying.

One of the only Bushco whack-jobs who refutes this corollary is Dick Cheney, who is, I suspect, a pathological liar, and, thus, very good at it. He also confines his lying to highly controlled environments, so he can be somewhat more convincing. Any reasonably talented and motivated set of reporters would slice him to ribbons..hence, his avoidance of same.

Just remember: any time they sound like morons, they're lying.