Bush will pardon Libby before he allows him to go to prison. Write it down. If the appeal can drag out the date of the pardon until after the 2008 elections, great. But if not, then Bush will take the heat and do the dirty dead.

As for it's effect on Bush's standing, I must say that I, by and large, agree with those who say that it won't hurt Bush. Yes, there will be an uproar for a while. And it may intensify the feelings of some independents who simply think that Bush is simply incompetent. But those of us who are prone to disapprove already do so, and most don't disapprove -- we absolutely loathe the no good SOB. In our mind, and rightly so, he makes Nixon look like a Boy Scout.

The nuts on the far right wing of the Republican party may actually be heartened by the pardon. But, to borrow a phrase, they are the "dead enders" of a dying regime. But it's a long from here to Jan. of 2009, so bucking up their mood can't hurt the President.

Yep, Scooter will be pardoned. It will temporarily cause a big to do in the media, but in the long run, it will only be a bump in the road of this long, horrible trip. The only relief comes when the ride is over.

I enjoyed, and largely agreed with the article. One small point that I found interesting was the singling out of John McCain, John Edwards, and Barak Obama as the only candidates in the current crop who seem to admit to any doubt. Strangely, these are the only three in the crowd (plus perhaps Mike Huckabee) that I can stand to listen to.

Hard to know which is more free from serious content -- local news in general or the CBS Evening News under the new regime. Personally, I agree with Dan Rather. And other than the fact that she's not particularly good and not particularly qualified, it has nothing to do with Couric. And absolutely nothing to do with her gender.

As the the station in Tyler, sense when has being a newsreader required journalism experience? I think it's entirely appropriate that in the world of if-it-bleeds-it-leads local news that they have a freak show diversion to further entertain the masses and divert their attention away from the fact that there is little if any content on display.

Reminds me of the Don Henley song, Dirty Laundry:

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond who

Comes on at five

She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam

In her eye

Its interesting when people die-

Give us dirty laundry

Isn't the premise of this article so blindingly obvious that it would be difficult to write more than a three to five page paper on the subject? Bush sees the world in black and white and feels anointed by God. He therefore acts like all fundamentalist and is blinded to reality. He therefore screws up everything he touches because he doesn't (try to) understand the truth or the nuances of reality. It's just the 21st century version of the Crusades. Nothing more, nothing less.

I think that one of the most interesting questions raised by all of this is why, among all the Democratic candidates, has Coulter seemingly singled out Edwards for her sharpest and most frequent barbs? One would think that Hillary and Barak would both be more threatening to the Republican establishment and therefore higher priorities for their attach machine. My theory is that the bad guy fear Edwards the most because they are concerned that he is the most electable candidate that the Democrats have.

No needs to be confused. Mr. Fielding simply used one of the oldest rhetorical tricks in the book. He confused his adversary by unexpectedly, and blatantly, telling the truth. Only slightly translated, he said that "We don't want a transcript of our witnesses testimony because such a transcript makes it much easier to prove that we're not telling the truth."

It's really not that hard to understand -- especially since he is representing pathological and serial liars.

Actually, it is a surprise. Bush only commuted the sentence rather than outright pardoning Libby. That frankly surprises me. I figured he let the SOB off scott-free. I guess there is some honor --albeit not much -- even among thieves, liars, and crooks.

Yes, it's not surprising, and yes, like everything this President does, it's an outrage.

But I write to take strong exception to your characterization of one of my favorite parables as "a juvenile dirty joke about dogs." While the question, "Why does a dog lick his balls," may on it's surface appear to be a juvenile dirty joke, it is at it's heart a wise parable that explains a great deal about the universe, particularly when you're dealing with actors who have no sense of moral right or wrong. My only concern with using in in this context is that it may defame dogs.

The right wing corporate media is learning lessons from the administration. There is no accountability. And when you're wrong, you just ignore what you said and say something equally foolish and pretend that you never said the first thing.