Takeover by Hamas Illustrates Failure of Bush's Mideast Vision  —  Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace.  "I call on the Palestinian people …

What I Saw in Iraq  —  Iran remains a problem, but Anbar has joined the fight against terror.  —  I recently returned from Iraq and four other countries in the Middle East, my first trip to the region since December.  In the intervening five months, almost everything about the American war effort …

www.trentlott.com  —  ***update: Rush on Lott—"You've got Republicans talking about talk radio like liberals talk about talk radio.  That tells you something."  Yes, it does.  It tells you that the Republican Party is in deep, deep doo-doo.  Speaking of doo-doo, the literal kind apparently turned up in the Capitol today.

U.S. Says Iraq Troop Surge Complete  —  The full contingent of new U.S. forces being sent to Iraq — what military leaders call a "surge" of troops to improve security and stability in the capital — was completed by Friday, with 28,500 additional troops now posted in the country, a U.S. military spokesman said.

The Laptop Is Mightier Than the Sword  —  WHILE waiting to see if the Iraq surge strategy pays off, President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have shown Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the door and brought in Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as the new White House "war czar."

EXCLUSIVE: Fred Thompson Pro-Life Video Address  —  Watch Low Band EXCLUSIVE VIDEO:  —  CBNNews.com - It's Christmas in June here at The Brody File.  Look what we found under the tree.  It's a present from "supporters of Fred Thompson" given exclusively to The Brody File.

The Quiet Gay Revolution  —  When William F. Buckley Jr. revived American conservatism by founding National Review in 1955, he said the magazine's job was to stand "athwart history, yelling stop."  At that time, history did seem to be moving in the wrong direction if you were a conservative, and Buckley was gutsy to admit as much.

Crises of Faith  —  America is becoming more secular; Europe is becoming more religious.  Both trends could mean trouble.  —  N othing divides the United States from Europe like religion.  America has its public piety and its multitude of thriving sects, Europe has its official secularism and its empty, museum-piece churches.

Who's Ahead?  No, Seriously...  It's nice to know that Mitt Romney has pulled ahead in New Hampshire, seven months before the primary voting.  Thanks, Bill Schneider!  Let me ask you something: Who's ahead in addressing a broken health care system?  —  It's fascinating to realize that Hillary Clinton, a woman, is ahead among women.

N.C. pressed on voter listings  —  State, feds say rolls out of date, push changes; official says no need  —  RALEIGH —State and federal officials are mounting two broad challenges to the way North Carolina maintains its voter rolls, charging widespread irregularities that include votes cast under the names of dead people.

Vote for me, dimwit  —  How the electorate is irrational  —  ANYONE who follows an election campaign too closely will sometimes get the feeling that politicians think voters are idiots.  A new book says they are.  Or rather, Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University …