pvslayer, I have thought about the "Hillary" v. "Clinton" question a lot, and because she is using "Hillary" in all her self promotion, I think it's fine in most contexts. But yes, every once in a while it just feels condescending.

Tester was another one of Matthews's manly man-crushes, but I liked that moment, too.

However: He was awful in much of the post-debate spin, especially when it came to his beloved gender issues, praising Hillary's pearls and declaring Michele Obama hot. Unreal. But on the other hand, he was also the only one who got the complexity of answering the question about an al-Qaida attack (he handled it better than I did, in fact): That there is no country called al-Qaida, so striking back isn't a simple thing.

I did write that sentence clumsily -- I was talking about Bush's handling-the-war approval rating, which is in the mid-20s, while his overall approval rating is in the mid-30s. That's not good, but it's not the 20s.

tiberius, I appreciate your continuing to read and contribute. I really do. But even you don't want to compare Tenet's silence about the war to the random mistakes of most of us -- do you?

Thanks, ConnieL. Sonofabastard, I agree with you tonight. Just posted. Awful.

That late-night dinner scene, where Tony and A.J. come in together after AJ tortured the poor college guy, and they all sit down to some of Carm's cooking and needle Meadow about her date, was a sick echo of the scene that ended the first half of the season -- everybody in the Soprano family home for Christmas, toasting the good life. I don't think there's any doubt AJ enjoyed torturing the guy, and yes, Tony gets points with Carm for being right that going out to the Bing and dancing with strippers was good for their poor lost son -- you can see it in their eyes, the kind of goofball affectionate parental glance you might see in a family sitcom like "Grounded for Life." Yes, Tony got AJ "off the couch" all right -- like he's been trying to get "off the couch" with Dr. Melfi. Heather's right, that line about his "putrid" genes really was his most naked self-hatred yet, and that can only lead to much more violence and lashing out.

This episode was unrelenting; there will be no enlightenment and no relief. Last episode at least we got that glimmer of good Tony when he was tender to Vito's angry Goth spawn (especially as compared with Phil's asshole act with the kid). This week Tender Tony is gone, Christopher won't be forgiven and I am beginning to think he'll turn. But Chase is a better story-teller than I am so I'm going to just settle in for the big finale and (mostly) stop trying to guess how it ends. I no longer think it's possible Tony will just go down in unrelenting middle-aged angst and despair, as seemed possible in the first two episodes.

I actually agree with david sugarman and RealName -- the Paisley-McGuinness power-sharing accord is far more important than Bush's latest gaffe, and I wish I knew enough about Irish politics to blog thoughtfully about it. But it moved me tremendously, and in a time of global bloodshed marked by so much political bad judgment and so little reason for optimism, it deserves more coverage. I'll think about how we do that in the days to come. Thanks.

Thanks, everyone. Seriously. It helped to see such varied reactions.

I think, to boil it down, my discomfort was that twinge of uncertainty about whether Colbert was fully in on the joke. I have to believe he was. It's his show. But the fact that I kept wondering, combined with what I think was genuine discomfort on his part -- like, maybe he'd signed on to the joke, but hadn't anticipated what it would feel like -- really made me feel kind of sorry for him. I don't think it's my discomfort with aging, but who knows. I think Jane Fonda is hot; I just don't think, even after all these years, she's totally in charge of her own sexuality. But maybe nobody is.

I think it's a little over the top to depict what the Democrats have done as being in any way equivalent to what Bush and the Republicans have done. I think the compromise is wrong; I said that in the previous post. I'm glad to have Olbermann out there throwing elbows; I said that in this post. But I don't think it's fair to equate what the Democrats have done with what the White House and GOP have done. If people think that's wimpy of me, so be it.

I hope you have a great weekend. You're entitled to a day away from this mess, at least a day. But I'll look for you Tuesday trying to make a difference, again.

Thanks Ben Sen, I know the issue is bigger than I discussed; I just can't get worked up about Hillary being called "Hillary." And I think I said on the show that I thought her tough debate reply about the US being "safer" since 9/11 was another example of her trying to seem more moderate and tough on terror than Obama or Edwards, especially after her base-pleasing vote against the supplemental funding bill. And part of that certainly stems from her desire to reassure voters that a woman can be a tough commander in chief. But that's a whole piece in itself, which I hope I eventually write someday.

Thanks, Garry Owen. I wasn't sure I was being heard over the yelling. I wish I'd made those points, too. It's a bad, sad idea to make the military the only path to citizenship for young people here illegally. And you're right about "Endgame" -- we can pick apart the career of this or that general, but the civilian leadership set the course of this war and chose which generals to listen to.