How the Chicks survived their scrap with Bush  —  Adam Sweeting assesses how the Dixie Chicks have weathered a political storm  —  Will it be the salmon teriyaki with organic greens, or asparagus tempura and tuna sashimi?  As the waiter hovers with pencil poised, the Dixie Chicks debate …

Carter Eskew and Democratic K-Street Culture  —  This Lieberman-Lamont race is becoming exceptionally important, because it's the most high-profile of a series of clashes between two different ways of doing politics.  The bear ad, and the ad man named Carter Eskew who is the consultant behind it …

Exclusive Book Excerpt: How an Al-Qaeda Cell Planned a Poison-gas Attack on the N.Y. Subway  —  The plot was called off by Bin Laden's No. 2 only 45 days from zero hour, according to a new book by Ron Suskind  —  Al-Qaeda terrorists came within 45 days of attacking the New York subway system …

Bush: Iraq must know it won't be abandoned  —  CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush, reminding listeners of his surprise trip to Baghdad, said Saturday it was important for the Iraqi people to know after three years of war that "America will not abandon them after we have come this far."

Contradictions Cloud Inquiry Into 24 Iraqi Deaths  —  What really happened in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005?  —  On that day, marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including 10 women and children and an elderly man in a wheelchair.  But how and why it happened and who ultimately bears responsibility are matters of profound dispute.

Moving Ahead, Rather Throws Sad Look Back  —  The 74-year-old man with the Mets cap pulled far down on his forehead slid into a booth at a diner on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and ordered a glass of milk without so much as turning a head — so quietly, in fact, that it was hard to believe it was Dan Rather.

WASHINGTON POST EDITORS HELP KARL ROVE BURNISH HIS REPUTATION.  The political media is utterly incapable of acknowledging its own role in shaping voter perceptions of our political figures.  This blind spot borders on pathological.  —  Case in point: In today's Washington Post …

U.S. Muslim Clerics Seek a Modern Middle Ground  —  Every seat in the auditorium at the University of Houston was taken, and the crowd was standing in the back and spilling out into the lobby, straining to hear.  The two men onstage began to speak to the crowd in Arabic …

HOMELAND SECURITY INC.  —  Contractor Pay Lures Counterterror Officials  —  WASHINGTON, June 17 — Dozens of members of the Bush administration's domestic security team, assembled after the 2001 terrorist attacks, are now collecting bigger paychecks in different roles …

Democrats Call for a New Direction for America  —  Washington, D.C. — Responding to the pressing needs of working families across the country, House and Senate Democrats today joined to call for a New Direction for America.  Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi …

A hurricane of fraud?  —  FEMA did mismanage Katrina relief, but it's wrong to blame victims for spending irresponsibly.  —  MOVE OVER, RECKLESS CONSUMERS.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency has outdone your irresponsible spending by racking up a debit card bill so outrageous it could have been created using Mad Libs.

Police may let Muslims see terrorism intelligence  —  Vikram Dodd  —  The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.  —  The proposal will be considered …

Hard Sell  —  Warner flops with the Kossaks, gets a bounce with the MSM, and learns that courting the Democratic netroots is no simple thing.  —  LAS VEGAS — The YearlyKos convention that took place at the end of last week wasn't a bit like the bar scene in Star Wars.

THE SWIFTBOATING OF GENERAL HAGEE:  —  Yesterday bloggers picked a new military target—General Michael Hagee, the outgoing commandant of the Marine Corps.  Hagee, apparently, is a secondary target in the ongoing campaign to destroy Jack Murtha.  Yesterday, The Washington Times reported …

The Saturday Cartoons  —  Democrats.com shows some of the best of this week's political cartoons...  More cartoons are after the page break.

Betting on Defeat?  —  It's far from a safe bet.  —  National Review Online  —  Lately, it has become popular to recant on Iraq.  When 2,500 Americans are lost, and when the improvised explosive device monopolizes the war coverage, it is easy to see why — especially with elections coming up in November …