Condi is promoting Dick Cheney's vision of democracy. Dick installed his daughter, Elizabeth Cheney, in the State Department. Liz has had quite a few grandiose titles at State, but what she really is is the voice of Dick Cheney, imposing Dick Cheney's will on the diplomats at the State Department he so hates.

Look - one of Liz Cheney's duties is to head up a recently-created “Iran Syria Operations Group” (ISOG) at the State Department which reports to Dick Cheney himself. The ISOG has a budget of over $80 million dollars and its purpose is to "promote democracy" in the Middle East, particularly in Iran and Syria.

Now I ask you - how can we promote democracy in two countries that we refuse to speak with?

By meeting with ragtag opposition from those countries - just like they met with Ahmad Chalabi from Iraq - and conspiring to install them in power. And how do those opposition people get to be installed in power? Through warfare.

Dick Cheney has turned the Department of State into a division of the Department of Defense. He has neutralized the diplomats he so despises (paging Joseph Wilson!) by upending the mission of State and putting himself and Rumsfeld in charge of all foreign policy.

And really, hasn't the strategy of funding expatriot Middle Easterners while ignoring the input from experts with decades of Middle East analysis worked so well in Iraq? That whole gameplan of funding a special department to bypass intel and diplomacy and instead be handled by Richard Cheney has been a real charm.

By all means, let's do it again!

Katherine Harris is the Edie Beale of politics, only with less faded charm and more raccoons in the attic. She is the Democrats best weapon.

Isn't Steele the same liar who claimed he was "pelted with Oreos" in a debate a few years ago, implying that Democrats were insulting him because he is black?

Only it turned out to be a complete lie?

Really, there's no reason to fear for the guy. He said the same thing that soldiers have been saying since the dawn of time: that generals see war differently from the grunts in action. He said "Generals are looking at the big picture". He's right, they are. He said soldiers don't see the big picture, they are too busy dealing with whatever duty they've pulled in a place far from home. He's right. He said that when a buddy dies, soldiers ask themselves "Well, what did he die for?" He's right. All soldiers ask themselves that.

Sometimes the answer is "He died for a good reason"; sometimes it's not. Sometimes two different soldiers will come to different conclusions on whether or not the same buddy in their platoon died for a good reason. Sometimes the dead soldier's parents will have different views on whether or not their child died for a good reason.

War is tough and bloody and disgusting and only fools like Donald Rumsfeld and deferment queens like Dick Cheney don't think so. But the generals ought to know that this guy said nothing wrong and they should shrug it off. Any soldier could have said it about any war.

I know of adoptive mothers who feel the same way, who are just as depressed as birth mothers.

Let's face it, you've just signed away at least 18 years of your life. And God help you if you can't afford a sitter every once in a while. Or if you had (or adopted) children late in life when your parents are elderly, or in Florida or dead. No grandma to help out makes a huge difference compared with mothers who have the steady support of an active, fairly youngish, involved grandma.

I'm convinced the only people watching Hardball are bloggers who live to catch a video, like this one with Coulter, off his show. As some blogs say "We watch cable TV so you won't have to."

Seriously, if I were MSNBC execs, I would insist Matthews take frequent drug tests. The man vacillates so wildly between viewpoints that I don't think it could be solely due to bipolar disorder. Besides, we have meds to treat BPD nowadays. So my guess is that Matthews may be indulging in some of the many different magic pills that fuel Rush Limbaugh's fancy flights from reality.

Anyone else?

I'm surprised they haven't already. He's not being represented by the best, apparently, because blaming Ambien is a surefire excuse.

You know it's coming. If Gibson's lawyers don't use Ambien as a defense, he really is fucked cuz his lawyers have been in a coma for the past year or so.