Conason writes: No doubt the former mayor believes that he is "obviously" the best choice for president in reference to Giuliani's statement "I think obviously I would be the best at this."

One would think this is sloppiness, but it happens so often that it must be intentional. Giuliani -- whom, let the record show, I despise and think would be possibly the worst of a terrible lot running for the nomination -- was clearly modifying "I think" with the adverb "obviously".

Otherwise he would have said "I think I would obviously be the best at this." The placement of the "obviously", children, is the key to decoding the meaning of the sentence.

Yet, in order to score a completely unnecessary dig, Conason misuses the quotation to imply that he was saying something he wasn't.

My problem with this (in addition to it being sloppy journalism) is that it is just the sort of crap Hannity et al practice. Why twist what Giuliani has to say? He IS EVIL. HIS RECORD IS EVIL. WE DON'T HAVE TO TWIST ANYTHING TO DEMONSTRATE THIS FACT.

It is like when Bush I's people promulgated an erroneously literal translation of "mother of all wars" in order to demonize Sadaam as a tinpot dictator out of a bad hollywood movie. Or the way he used to drawl and emphasize the word "SCUUUUUD" whenever he said "scud missiles" as if even saying the word was disgusting. Again, what the fuck was the point? Sadaam didn't need to be spun as evil, he was evil.

C'mon Joe. Rise above these cheap tactics.

A-rod is an interesting guy. He's human in a way that so few of our sportstars are. He can be funny and nice, but also petulant and a self-absorbed jerk. That would make him like probably 90% of the readership of salon, but for some reason people need to take incredibly strong positions on him.

Personally, I hope he stays a Yankee and wins a world series MVP. I hope he goes in the Hall as a Yankee. I was very pleased that he came out and spoke openly about benefitting from therapy, which is brave in a world as antiintellectual and hypermasculine as baseball. Jason Giambi couldn't spell "self-reflection" much less ever deign to indulge in it. I think people seem to get blinded to how extraordinary Arod can be because he doesn't fit into the standard mold.

No knock on Jeter, but last year people were talking about him as an MVP candidate. His numbers were: BA: .343; OPS: .900; RBI: 97; HR: 14 and he was making $20.6 million

A-rod was supposedly TERRIBLE. Completely off his game, right? His numbers were: BA: .290; OPS: .915; RBI: 121; HR: 35 and he was making $21.7 million

For those who say Arod isn't clutch. His OPS w/RISP + 2 outs (generally speaking, the highest pressure situation for which we have stats) was .970 last year. That is .055 higher than it was in all situations. Jeter's was 1.075. Morneau's was .926 (.008 lower than his overall OPS).

With bases loaded? ARod: 1.289, Jeter: 1.283, Morneau: 1.030

Numbers don't mean everything, but OPS is OPS and it is difficult to fathom how Jeter could be lauded to high heaven for having a year more or less equal to an "off" A-rod year. A-rod is just that good that he is held to a higher standard.

Ah, here it is. Yup, it's April still.

I go through this every year with friends who reside in that state of denial, Red Sox Nation: what happens in April doesn't matter much. It doesn't matter if the Yanks are in first or last.

Remember: The Yanks are obviously doing horribly. The Red Sox are allegedly the next coming. Yet, the difference is FOUR games. Oh my God! What will we ever do? No one's every made up a 4 game deficit with only 143 games! (Also remember, that no one talks about a "bronx massacre"-- we save that title for Boston).

Get over your gloating. It's April. The Yanks are leading the AL in average, runs, OBP, OPS and HR. Obviously Arod's not going to keep doing what he's doing, but the point is that it is simply silly to worry about these things, especially with the fact that our whole pitching staff is injured at this point. The pitching will come together eventually. What Clemens does will obviously play a big role in what happens in the AL East.

I think they're playing 'possum in order to get Clemens come and be the hero. Just a theory...

Well, assuming our enemy is the folks who attacked on 9/11 (that would be Al quaida), and their main strategic goal is to foment a civilizational clash between the west and islam in order to eventually re-establish the caliphate.

Presumably, if we believe our Glorious Leader, the reason for his animosity is that they "hate our freedom".

Therefore, let's ask ourseleves who is most responsible for turning a regional conflict into a potential civilizational clash? Who is responsible for stripping POWs (sorry "enemy combatants") of their Geneva protections? Who has advocated a theory of executive rule in which one of the co-equal branches of our government is much much more equal than the others? Who has asserted the right and practiced locking up American citizens without trial and torturing them until they're crazy? Who has asserted the right to ignore the laws of this country if he feels it is in the interest of national security as determined solely by him?

Let me give you a hint: it ain't Harry Reid.

Krugman pointed this out YEARS ago in a column calling Bush a Manchurian Candidate and this has only gotten truer as the situation has deteriorated.

And Titus, please if you don't mind, answer the orginal question: "what's the best possible outcome you can see in Iraq from this point forward?"