The only journalist I can think of who has made even a partial mea culpa for making the 2000 election about 'personality' was ol' Mr Who-Would-You-Rather-Have-A-Beer-With? himself: Chris Mathews.

Granted, it was one time, and when you talk that much you'll probably say everything, but it is interesting that the odious sisterhood of Kit Seelye, Ceci Connelly and the third self-described "bitch on the bus" have never admitted their own professional failings. Adam Nagourney, Frank Bruni, Candy Crowley... even St Koppel, who I distinctly remember commenting on Nightline about Al Gore's high protein diet and tight jeans. Dowd may be the flashiest of the pundit heathers, and Richard Cohen the most cluelessly self-congratulatory, but they had a lot of company on the 'straight reporter' side of the fence too.

Jeezaloo!

she truly represents the heart and soul of contemporary conservative activism, especially among the young. The standing ovation for Romney was nothing like the eruption of enthusiasm that greeted her. . . .

She is the new Republicanism. The sooner people recognize this, the better.

Some of us figured this out--the mean-spiritedness, the anger, the bigotry that underlies contemporary Republicanism-- before we'd even heard of Ann Coulter. We used to call it Jesse Helms and Tom Delay and Newt Gingrich and Jeff Sessions. It was pretty clear back around 1993, thanks.

It is astounding to me that everytime that elegantly accented halfwit squirrel Sullivan finds a nut, it's treated as a daring insight (not here, I mean on (Cable )TeeVee).

I'm going to hire a dialogue coach, learn to speak with a posh-toff accent, and buy an OxBridge word-a-day calendar.

Look for me on Meet The Press folks. I'm sellin' out and cashin' in!

Paul Simon proposed that the AG be appointed along the same line as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, for five year terms with Senate approval (maybe sixty votes to ensure good candidates?), beginning in an odd numbered year, as I recall. I thought that made a lot of sense.

I'm a committed lefty, and I have some problems with Michael Moore (see Nader, Ralph). I thought "Fahrenheit 9/11" was funny and moving, and should be used in film schools to show would-be auteurs why they need editors.

That said: Is it fair to accuse Moore of "sandbagging a senile Charlton Heston"? IIRC, he announced that he had Alzheimer's after "Columbine" was released, which means he was interviewed probably a year before (?). If Heston's condition was cause for concern at the time, someone in his family or circle of friends should have spoken to Moore or stopped the interview.

I must be a nicer person than I thought. I actually feel sorry for the desperate, flailing old coot.

"I'm not informed enough on it. Let me find out ... I'm sure I have taken a position on it in the past ... I have to find out my position on it ... I am sure I am opposed to government funding. I am sure I support the president's policy on it."

PS: No mention of Tom Coburn, McCain's advisor on matters of health and sexuality, without a mention of his belief that pubescent lesbians use the bathrooms of middle schools as their recruiting grounds of evil.

he was one of the quickest to adopt "cut'n'run", and has at various points carried a lot of water for this administration, and they treat him like this?

When is the MSM gonna get that loyalty is a one-way street with the Busies.

Is this a new feature? I like it.

Especially interesting how Grassely specifically asked that the record show his vote counted as "aye". Is this SOP? It seems unusual, like he's sending a message to the White House, his constituents, or just history [in a small way] and his conscience. I've always thought Grassley was better than his record in the Rubber Stamp Caucus suggests. I hope he stays on the right course, maybe he can drag a few others along with him.

And Arlen Specter. "I have my independence from the President." Adorable. Is the Cowardly Nittany Lion going to break into a few choruses of "Courage" next? I wonder if the poor, pathetic clown actually believes that crap when he says it. I understand he abstained from this vote. I can't think of anything that better captures the spineless, confused desperation of a sad little man caught between Rove-CheneyCO and his own conscience. What a sad way to end a career in the US Senate. I actually have more respect for brazen hacks like Trent Lott.

I thought it was a great ending. Pullo was always a character with one foot in epic and one foot in comedy. That ending would have been totally unfit for the gloomy Catonian Lucius Vorenus, but it was pretty well done for the cheerful epicurean brute Titus Pullo.

As for Cesarian living in the TV show and being killed in history, I don't think his real father was a random centurion who got lucky with a princess one night under the pyramids... Also, I've looked around a bit and found no evidence that Caesar Augustus's mother was a wildly entertaining, politically manipulative, nymphomaniacal cynical alpha bitch, but Polly Walker was a lot of fun to watch.

The ending showed she was down but not out, and the hat tip to Servilia as she squashed her daugther in law was a nice touch.

Far be it from me to defend the modern Repubilcan South--I'm a firm believer in Schaller's look away from Dixie theories--but I do seem to recall that Jefferson and Madison, who were pretty familiar with Montesquieu and Locke and Hume, were from Virginia.

They do their presidential election in two rounds, the first with anybody who can get (I think) 5,000 elected officials (mayors, deputies, town councillors, etc) to sign their petitions; the two top vote getters then have a run off. They had 85 per cent turn out in the first round, I doubt it will get that high in the second