In Baker's Blunder, A Chance For Bush  —  As a result of the Iraq Study Group, President Bush has been given one last chance to alter course on Iraq.  This did not, however, come about the way James Baker intended.  It came about because the long-anticipated report turned out to be, as is widely agreed, a farce.

In the 83rd Congress, a Senate in Constant Turmoil  —  Sen. Tim Johnson's sudden illness has consumed the political class the past two days.  Everyone is talking about what happens if the South Dakota Democrat leaves the Senate and is replaced by a Republican to create a 50-50 split.

Castro Near Death, U.S. Intelligence Chief Says  —  Cuban President Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday.  —  "Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer . . . months, not years," Negroponte told a meeting of Washington Post editors and reporters.

Diplomat's suppressed document lays bare the lies behind Iraq war  —  The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

THE HAMMER FINDS HIS MÉTIER.  —  Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose various ethical missteps compelled him to resign this past June, was born to blog.  He's a bully and a blowhard and he's got access to interesting political gossip.  But I find TomDeLay.com, which debuted Dec. 10, disappointingly high-minded.

Barackwater  —  FOR NOW, OBAMA'S SCANDAL IS TOO SMALL TO HURT.  —  Listen to John Dickerson's weekly Political Gabfest program here, or sign up for Slate's free daily podcast on iTunes.  —  If Barack Obama decides to run for president, we're going to hear a lot more about Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the senator's neighbor.

Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option  —  By Arthur Herman From issue: November 2006  —  As the impasse over Iran's nuclear-weapons program grows inexorably into a crisis, a kind of consensus has taken root in the minds of America's foreign-policy elite.

Today's Rationale?  —  Nine days until Christmas...and Mommy just got dragged away in handcuffs for a bunch of show arrests.  Nice.  —  The shifting rationale for the ICE raids on the Swift Meatpacking plants is making me very peeved.  What began as a "raid on illegal immigrants" …

The Mendacity Of the Liberal Press  —  The first time I heard the word "mendacity" was in the film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."  I loved the way Burl Ives's character spits out the word as something vile and unacceptable.  —  Unfortunately, we live in a society where untruthfulness …

The Chinese Economy: Progress and Challenges  —  The emergence of China as a global economic power is one of the most important developments of recent decades.  For the past twenty years, the Chinese economy has achieved a growth rate averaging nearly 10 percent per year, resulting in a quintupling of output per person.

Military Considers Sending as Many as 35,000 More U.S. Troops to Iraq, McCain Says  —  Senator John McCain said Thursday that American military commanders were discussing the possibility of adding as many as 10 more combat brigades — a maximum of about 35,000 troops — to …

Facts on the Ground  —  Reality keeps racing ahead of any of the options the Bush Administration might consider for Iraq.  Though both the ISG Report and the Adminstration throw cold water on a de jure partition strategy, even the soft Gelb-Biden version, the sectarian laundry that's …

Call to Add U.S. Forces Is Resisted at Home, in Iraq  —  Bush Administration Leans  —  Toward Temporary Boost;  —  General Wants Clear Mission  —  The Bush administration is leaning toward temporarily sending as many as 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, even as the Democrats taking charge …

'Pursuit of Happyness': An Uphill Climb That's an Exhilarating Breath of Fresh Air  —  You can look up "The Pursuit of Happyness" on the Internet Movie Database and see that a guy named Gabriele Muccino made it.  Or you can pay attention during the credits and learn the same thing.  —  Except it's wrong.

Scandal Hasn't Sunk Abramoff Ally — Yet  —  It was a fundraising pitch for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), but in a May, 2002 email Jack Abramoff's colleague couldn't help taking time out to praise a favorite: Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA).  "[N]obody," wrote lobbyist Todd Boulanger, "comes even close …

Belgium splits up?  TV hoax is decried  —  BRUSSELS — Suddenly and shockingly, Belgium came to an end.  —  State television broke into regular programming late Wednesday with an urgent bulletin: The Dutch-speaking half of the country had declared independence and the king and queen had fled.