To clarify dawninnm's reference to the Zorn blog quote.

Planned Parenthood indicated that they asked Obama and others to vote present, instead of their expected no, to give cover to reps who felt pressured to vote yes so that they could also vote present. Legislatively, that would mean a drop in the number of yes votes, which means the measure would fail.

The sausage making here in Illinois can be particularly messy. It really is better not to watch, sometimes.

I keep hearing George Costanza upon being called to account for having sex with the cleaning lady at work. "Was that wrong of me?" Of course, had he only known that that was frowned upon, he wouldn't have done it.

Had the CIA only known that there was a policy in place that they shouldn't just destroy stuff when Congress was investigating it, they surely wouldn't have done that. But Myers only said she didn't think they should destroy it, which is different, and -- you know -- they don't really have any of their own lawyers at the CIA.

So if I understand the E-man correctly, when in doubt about whether a country has nukes or not or might get them or not, we should just bomb 'em all back to the stone age. You know: "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out." (Forget for a moment -- PLEASE -- that NK has the Bomb, and missles to deliver it.)

Look. We all know that the NIE isn't gospel. Note the last letter. It stands for ESTIMATE. It's what the intelligence community's best guess is about the situation.

And, anticipating the argument, I understand that an often effective part of diplomacy is the implication that we have a stick to go with our carrot. I think TR had it right, however, when he said WALK SOFTLY and carry that big stick. W and his cohorts instead holler and stomp and overtly threaten everyone around with their stick (which thanks to their idiocy in Iraq isn't quite big enough to be much use against a country as large as Iran anyway).

Paranoia is now striking deep into the heart of Bushworld.

Clearly, everyone is out to get W, from the Democrats (of course), to the MSM, to that hot-bed of pinko softies, the CIA.

Why not just automatically enshrine every former commissioner and dead team owner after a certain number of years? That's what they seem to be doing via ballot anyway. The Hall is getting to be more and more like Lake Woebegone every year, insomuch as they believe everyone's above average.

Goodness. Mr. Gonzalez is obviously a fine legal talent in his own right. Former Texas Supreme Court Justice, Former White House Counsel, Former US Attorney General. I suspect he could not find a better lawyer than himself and should therefore elect to represent himself pro se.

And then let him file an appeal predicated on ineffective assistance of counsel.

W once again demonstrates that he is a bit unclear on the concept of a representative democracy. Which is a bit odd since he's so driven to bring that system to others around the world.

Perhaps some nice librarian can explain to him that, in representative democracies -- like the one we pretend to have here -- those elected representatives are generally EXPECTED to listen to the folks that actually elected them.

Just to get the chronology straight, it's my understanding that the Army was in Fallujah first, and had things on a pretty even keel. Then the Army was pulled out. Then the Blackwater guys got whacked. And THEN the Marines went in and basically just sterilized the whole place.

Rudy mocks Sen Clinton for knocking an unfettered free market, then talks about how you have to have some regulation, not only of the market itself, but of the legal system to boot.

Proving once again that Giuliani's strongest suit is hypocrisy.

I'm fairly certain that Mr. Randolph, being just two hours south of Chicago, can pick up WGN/720 AM pretty darn good at night (maybe even 12 hours south of Chicago with the right atmospheric conditions). I know that's not the same as TV, but of all the major sports, baseball works the best on radio, and is certainly better than dealing with internet TV feeds.

Pushing 47, and with no past military training, I'm too old, fat and slow to stand alongside Mr. McGough in battle.

However, in the spirit of supporting the troops -- especially the troops that Rush, et.al., are trying to smear -- I pledge the following: if I run across Kingston, Limbaugh, O'Reilly or any of the other scum that have been disparaging REAL soldiers who happen to disagree with this administrations so-called "plan" in Iraq, I will slug said scum as hard as I can right in the kisser, and gladly stand trial or face civil suit on behalf of Mr. McGough. I cannot take a bullet for him, but I can do my 30 days in county jail if need be.

Actually, Ms. Perino shows the how diligently the GOP will revert to form anytime they are challenged, by parroting the same refrain: "taxes, homos, 9/11, lather, rinse, repeat."

God, I hate to do this, but in response to Modeler I have to note that at least Reagan stood for something and knew what that something was. That said, he was wrong about most of what he stood for, and wasn't the brightest bulb we've ever had in the White House (though not the dullest, either). However, that he looks downright brilliant next to Thompson's dithering is mindblowing.

But hey, Republicans have a thing for actors. Reagan and Thompson are professionals, but look at the off-broadway cast for the GOP: W, who tries to act like a legit CEO; Cheney, who tries to act like a human being; and the long list of GOP office-holders and supporters who try to act like homo-hating straight guys.