The basic story:

Apparently, at a recent press conference, Rudy Giuliani was asked a question about his prior knowledge of the collapse of the WTC towers - and the reporter was arrested at the orders of Giuliani’s press secretary. The reporter was taken to jail - in violation of the First Admendment - and is being charged with felony criminial trespass. Because the reporter was using a camera, state police are even considering charges of espionage.

Read Complete Article »

President Bush really and truly wanted to exercise this option with Libby -- and he's still probably hoping mightily that the judge lets Scooter stay out of jail for another year and a half (while his appeal is being heard) -- so that Bush can pardon him after the 2008 election. But, unfortunately, the judge involved has gained the reputation of being a "long ball" judge (another baseball metaphor pops up!), consistently ruling "by the book," and thereby bucking the modern trend of letting white-collar criminals stay free on appeal. If all predictions are accurate and the judge orders Scooter to jail before the end of the summer, Bush is going to be forced to make this decision a lot more quickly than he would have liked.

Read Complete Article »

But my real question at this point is: will the chronic attention deficit disorder (also known as: having the attention span of a hummingbird) so prevalent in the mainstream media mean that they will accept four candidates in the "top tier" of Republicans, or will they drop someone to remain at three?

Read Complete Article »

Do you support the concept of gay marriage?

That used to be an unimaginable question. Not "unimaginable" in a negative sense, but "unimaginable" in the original, neutral definition of the word: "unable to be imagined," or "not imaginable." The concept of two people of the same sex being married wasn't even raised in the American conscience until the 1990s (or perhaps late 1980s -- I haven't researched the actual date, this is from my own recollection). After that point, of course, the idea has grown in prominence in the American political debate, both pro and con.

But now, mostly due to a Mormon running for president, the issue of polygamy is also inserting itself into the political debate. So the question must also be asked: Do you support the concept of polygamy? If so, why? If not, why not?

Read Complete Article »

I could see Bush, after being told flatly by Republican congressfolks that it was time to pull out, picking up the phone and telling Maliki that it was time for the Iraqi government to ask us to leave. This would give enormous political cover for Bush and the Republicans, and would provide a convenient scapegoat in case the pullout created a bigger disaster: "Hey, they told us to leave, what were we supposed to do?"

But one way or another, in the September/October timeframe, I foresee the end of the Iraq war being written into law by Congress. And that's a real and honest reason for optimism now. We may be at the lowest point of the process -- emotionally -- for the anti-war cause right now. But things are going to be looking up very soon now.

Read Complete Article »

This would, ironically enough, mean that the states at the back of the line suddenly become the crucial battleground states for the nomination. The only place left to get that "momentum" would be in the states which voted in the middle or at the end of the schedule. But even that's not assured. And if no candidate is the clear nominee by convention time, then we would have a real convention for a change. All the delegates' votes in the first round would go for the candidates they are pledged to vote for, but then in subsequent rounds of voting, we would have absolute pandemonium.

Now, let me be clear here -- I'm not making rash predictions that this is the way it'll turn out. Not yet, at least.

But wouldn't it be more fun to watch than four days of endless and meaningless speechifying?

Read Complete Article »

Because naming an Independent Counsel to investigate the Bush White House means giving them unlimited power to investigate anything and everything they feel like (which is how Ken Starr went from Whitewater and Vince Foster to blowjobs in the White House). An Independent Counsel's investigation could be the first step towards impeachment -- and maybe not just of Gonzales.

So if Senator Specter turns out to be wrong and Gonzales isn't putting his diplomas and his coffee cup into moving boxes this week, then Democrats need to immediately up the stakes. And all it will take for Bush to fold is hearing those three powerful words: "Independent Counsel Law."

Read Complete Article »

Best Democratic entry:

9. DENNIS KUCINICH

Pro: Solid anti-war stance; adorable; strong to the finich.

Con: Election laws limit magical pixies to only one term in office.

Best Republican entry:

8. NEWT GINGRICH

Pro: Well known.

Con: See above.

Read Complete Article »

This week's news from Iraq is actually good news, for a change. Good for Democrats in Congress, good for congressional Republicans, good for (assumably) the Iraqis, and good for the seven-tenths of all Americans who want to see an end to American troops in Iraq. Good for almost everyone, right?

Well, not so good for the Bush White House and their "stay the course" echo chamber, but then they've really had their moment in the sunshine already, haven't they?

Read Complete Article »

Secondly, letter-writer to the Washington Post Kenneth R. Insley Jr. proposed a truly innovative, original, and downright brilliant idea for how to solve the presidential primary schedule mess for good:

I believe the fairest way to conduct the presidential primaries would be to rank the states according to voter participation in the previous election and have the primaries in that order until the winners become obvious.

He gets a bit snarky at the end, but still, his idea has a lot of merit, and is worth considering:

This change might rankle the chosen people of Iowa and New Hampshire because they would have to finally earn their coveted positions of influence. As soon as either of those states acquires an actual city, a diverse population or even a major sports team, I might actually feel the opinions held there should count for as much as my own.

Of course, like many good political reform ideas, it probably makes too much sense to ever become reality.

Read Complete Article »