And do the Iraqis also have a contingency plan for several decades of occupation?

Clearly the White House is hoping that whatever does or does not happen at the end of this Supreme Court term, leaking the existence of this list now -- and the fact that Priscilla Owens and Janice Rogers Brown are on it as serious contenders -- will help Bush's political fortunes today.

Maybe if we all petition the Lord with prayer...

What happened to good old-fashioned stick-to-it-iveness?

Come on, guys! If at first you don't succeed, ...

Don't just cut and run.

That's 10 out of about 200, right?

Why do I have the feeling that Prick Cheney is making a list of his own? Not a long list. Just two things on it. Names, actually. And a whole lot of very angry doodles.

The biggest among them, Schnur says, is his support for an immigration reform deal that many on the right consider an offer of "amnesty" for illegal aliens.

Seems to me that this is the first among many equals.

Nixon's 60% = 35% “somewhat unfavorable,” and 25% “very unfavorable.”

George W. Bush’s 59% = 19% “somewhat unfavorable,” and 40% “very unfavorable.”

Who's the baddest now?

I agree with what Snow claims Bush believes: "pardons and commutations should reflect a genuine determination to strengthen the rule of law and increase public faith in government".

Too bad the commutation didn't in this case.

Does anyone know what could happen to Taylor if she chose to testify anyway, even though Bush has now invoked executive privilege?

Would that expose her to any kind of legal jeopardy?

Investing the $500 billion instead of spending it, you would need only a 6.55% return to provide a Twinkie a day to every American citizen for life.

(Optionally, the word "day" can be pronounced in the Australian way -- i.e., die.)

George Bush, Decider-in-Chief, November 30, 2005:

A clear strategy begins with a clear understanding of the enemy we face. The enemy in Iraq is a combination of rejectionists, Saddamists and terrorists. The rejectionists are by far the largest group. ... The second group that makes up the enemy in Iraq is smaller, but more determined. ... The third group is the smallest, but the most lethal: the terrorists affiliated with or inspired by al Qaeda.

One of his more honest public-speaking moments. No hyperbole, no distortion. He frankly admitted “al Qaeda in Iraq” was the smallest group we’re fighting. He frankly admitted they have only a tenuous connection to the real al Qaeda, more of an inspirational relationship really.

He can't turn around now, and tell us they are the same people that attacked us in America.

Or if he does, we shouldn't let him.

Call him on it, every time he tries to. Please?

If Bush directed her to jump into a well, presumably she would only ask: in the pike position, or with one and a half twists?

Through his vast government experience, through the friends he had been able to place in key positions and through his considerable political skills, he has been increasingly able to determine the answers to questions put to the president -- because he has been able to determine the questions."

Most importantly, though, it's through Bush's willingness to be managed.

Only in the Bush administration could the term "President of the United States" be rendered ambiguous.

If he meant we're kicking our own ass.

... if Rudee had heard that as "Is it weird being disliked?"

"Thank you, President Bush, for restoring personal integrity and dignity to the White House."

Isn't that pretty much declaring that in all his previous "Thank you, Bush" statements he was just kidding?

Someone should ask Chris Wallace if he prays for Pelosi. To live?

...the odds are long for Petraeus because unlike most recent Peace Prize recipients, he "doesn't seem to hate President Bush."

Why should Nobel Peace Prize recipients be any different from the rest of the world?

Surely the guy who said "that Americans probably aren't safer today than they were when the war in Iraq began" could have also given us a more novel resignation explanation: that he needs to have some long-delayed surgery on his family ... and he wants to spend more time with his knees?

Why leave even 24% of the people with any doubt at all?

How is "Of course, torture is unconstitutional" any different from "We don't torture people", if you play the hey-we-just-won't-call-it-torture game?

For that matter, how is Mukasey's "I don't know if waterboarding is torture" any different from Gonzales' "Senator, I don't recall"?

Here's a fearless prediction: six months down the road, several Senators are going to be looking at Mukasey's on-the-job performance, and smoothly going "Back at the confirmation hearings, who could have guessed ... ?"

Politics is easy with eyes wide shut, innit?

One more reason to fight them over there. So we don't have to fight forest fires over here.

"I'm not worried about the number," Perino said."What I'm worried about is making sure that the president gets what he needs in order to provide the safety and security for the country."

Why is Dana Perino talking as if she's the one who makes everything run?

Don't tell me! She's the Monica Goodling of the White House?

“I have no doubt there will be some of that — trying to make me into this foreign, odd, clearly black person and to scare people,” he said.

Trying to make him into a clearly black person is Swift-boating him?

I may as well be the first to Swift-boat Obama in that case: “HEY, OBAMA! YOU’RE ODD, AND YOU’RE CLEARLY BLACK! YOU ARE, YOU ARE, YOU ARE!”

Now let’s see what you got. Go ahead. Demolish me.

How is this FEMA press conference any different from the administration's previous fake-news adventures, how is it any worse?

Does anyone understand why they are denouncing it and apologizing for it this time around?