I hardly expect any of the bosses or anchors at the major news organizations to show up and say "gee, we were total idiots at best and government stooges at worst throughout this whole thing, you know? Now, for a word from our sponsors ..."

Yeah right. You expect them to do that now?

We have spilled millions of words in print and pixels about how news organizations used to be subsidized by networks and now are expected to be profit centers. But I suggest this case is worse than that. Any voice -- or any conduit for any voice -- that had anything negative to say about Bush or his Iraq adventure at the time would have been driven straight out of business with screams from the right about treason.

There might have been individuals that would have been willing to sacrifice their careers to do the right thing, but they would have been quickly stopped, fired, and replaced with someone who knew which side of the bread the butter was on.

As for now, this story will stay on the fringe Internet and maybe it will catch on, maybe not.

Isn't this the strategy that helped Lieberman beat Lamont? From what I read a fair number of voters there have buyers' remorse about Lieberman. So perhaps the tactic -- like 911 for Guiliani -- has been used enough that it is losing its potency.

Maybe Karl Rove thinks there is some benefit in having the likely Democratic loser attack the likely Democratic nominee. Maybe he thinks there is some benefit in having the primary linger on forever.

Can there be any doubt? I don't think KR is a "genius" -- the word is "cunning." He has a definite feel for media mood and how it affects the gullible segment of the public. What makes him get out of bed humming in the morning are the constant reports of people who say that if their Democratic nominee doesn't win the nomination, they will vote McCain. I don't think there are actually that many people who will do that (between June and November much of this Clinton-Obama nastiness will be forgotten) but clearly they want this mode of thought normalized, and that is what this is all about.

Noonan is and always was batshit insane. I figured that out years ago when she wrote up her intense feelings for Ronald Reagan's foot.

To me the real question is the same question that arises anytime you examine GWB. Do they know how stupid and vapid they are and pretending not to know? Or are they just that disconnected from reality? Scary, either way.

The Ford Explorer Hybrid and the Prius are not even in the same category of car -- why compare their sales numbers? Why not tally Mini-Coopers to cement trucks I'm sure there is a shocking juxtaposition of numbers there.

I have nothing against the Prius -- other than it is butt ugly -- but the work I ask of my Escape '08 Hybrid would render the venerable Prius into a heap of junk in no time -- and that is assuming you could even get it up (and down) the off-road trails I use. The Escape is a damn fine car for quality, drivability, looks, and it can go off-road and has decent cargo carrying. Ford got it right but they didn't intend it to displace Prius sales.

Dig up the story of Manhattan and SF using the Escape Hybrids as taxi cabs. Want to try that with a Prius?

Speaking of sales -- both Prius and Escape have waiting lists. Ford's sales are limited by production as are Toyota's, otherwise you would see tons of inventory around. Go to the dealership to see how many they have and you will see they just ain't there. Last year the story was availability of batteries; I'm not sure that is still the case.

As for the 100MPG -- there are startup companies that have kits to turn a Escape Hybrid from a 32MPG car (which is what I get) to a 100MPG car by converting from NMH batteries to Lithium-Ion batteries. Ford is experimenting with these as well. Currently the price will set you back north of $30K for the conversion so i would say it isn't worth it. I'm sure they can get even more out of the Prius but then again it is only 60% of the metal.

What I find so fascinating about all this is not that they would do this. It is that they would do this for a pipsqueak like George W Bush and his ghoulish crew. This really does seem like a real-life Ship of Fools where you have high ranking military officers, media executives, bureaucrats all sacrificing whatever principles and dignity they ever had in slavish devotion to the Bush agenda.

I would expect Satan to show up any minute now, demanding payment in souls for the deals these people must have made circa 2001.

I find myself being torn between being aghast at what moral and legal guidelines the U.S. military was willing to stomp over and being impressed at how well they were able to do it. All this does suggest a level of dedicated competence which we don't normally associate with the Pentagon.

And they did it all for a cowardly "C Plus Augustus" (as Charles Pierce calls him). Would they ever have done this for a Kerry, Clinton, or Gore president? It is hard to imagine it even being possible. The ideological brotherhood of movement conservatives within the ranks of the myopic military and the profit-driven media seems to have been a necessary ingredient for this rancid loaf to rise.

I never miss a GG column.

Now you know why the White House will do anything to keep the e-mail files from being examined by anyone. There must be tons more of this kind of stuff in those "lost" e-mails.