First Father: Tough Times on Sidelines  —  There are times in the life of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States and father of the 43rd, that people, perfect strangers, come up to him and say the harshest things — words intended to comfort but words that wind up only causing pain.

Primary Season Getting Earlier  —  S.C. GOP's Move Could Push Votes For 2008 Into '07  —  South Carolina's Republican Party will move its 2008 presidential primary forward to Jan. 19, sources said yesterday, a decision almost certain to spark a cascade of calendar changes that could push …

Romney: Giuliani's NYC 'Sanctuary' for Illegal Immigrants  —  Republican Presidential Contender Calls Giuliani's New York a 'Sanctuary' for Illegals  —  In one of the strongest conflicts yet between Republican presidential front-runners, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney attacked rival …

When Hidden Experts Are Found  —  Exactly one week ago today on August 2nd, the editors of the magazine The New Republic posted A Statement on Scott Thomas Beauchamp, in which they claimed: … What is most interesting about the The New Republic's statement is that while they state they spoke to …

Progressives For Racist Smears?  —  It doesn't take long for provocateurs to crawl out of the woodwork to attack candidates, especially in stealth attacks.  With Fred Thompson, they've apparently started before he officially enters the race — and in one case, race is the operative word.

Fair but Unbalanced  —  How the media promote false pessimism about the economy.  —  Not that it needed any help, but the already energized debate about journalistic bias was electrified when Rupert Murdoch, owner of the "fair and balanced" Fox News Channel, struck a deal to buy The Wall Street Journal.

AT&T Plays Gatekeeper.  Censors Pearl Jam.  —  Over the weekend AT&T gave us a glimpse of their plans for the Web when they censored a Pearl Jam performance that didn't meet their standard of "Internet freedom."  —  During the live Lollapalooza Webcast of a concert by the Seattle-based super-group …

First lady, Jenna Bush to write children's book  —  First lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna Bush are writing a children's book about a boy who doesn't like to read.  It is based on their experiences as teachers.  —  HarperCollins plans to announce today that it will publish the as-yet-untitled picture book next spring.

Kent officer tickets man for 'Impeach Bush' sign  —  Kent - A soft-spoken teacher posted the words "Impeach Bush" in a public garden, and Kent police cast him as an outlaw.  —  Today Kevin Egler is fighting that in Kent Municipal Court, and the case is emerging as a free-speech issue …

OBAMA AND PAKISTAN  —  I'm always interested to try to tease apart and find the meta-debates operating beneath the surface of campaign debates.  As I wrote a few years ago in what I called the bitch-slap theory of GOP electoral politics, the whole swift-boat saga was less about the specifics …

Polls show shift in attitudes on Iraq following military inroads  —  WASHINGTON — Even some critics of President Bush's Iraq war policies are conceding there is evidence of recent improvements from a military standpoint.  But Bush supporters and critics alike agree that these have not been matched …

PRESIDENT BUSH ON ACCOUNTABILITY  —  On Scooter Libby: "Lewis Libby was held accountable."  —  On Al Gonzales: "I haven't seen Congress say he's done anything wrong ... Why would I hold someone accountable who has done nothing wrong?"

Will the real Colin Powell stand up?  —  Every movement, gesture and tic of the Bush administration is shadowed by its past.  When National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell was deployed politically to overawe timorous legislators into approving unlimited and warrantless domestic surveillance …

Senate Joins Knockoff Battle  —  THE movement by American designers to ban other companies from knocking off their work has gained some momentum since the idea was first introduced last year.  At a news conference yesterday at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Senator Charles E. Schumer …

British Criticize U.S. Air Attacks in Afghan Region  —  SANGIN, Afghanistan — A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.