Democrats Refocus Message on Iraq After Military Gains  —  Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on Republicans to break with President Bush on the Iraq war.  Instead, Democrats have been forced to recalibrate their own message in the face …

Sub-Standard  —  IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE that, not so long ago, neoconservative foreign policy thinking overflowed with ideas and idealism.  The descent has been steep, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the pages of The Weekly Standard—particularly in William Kristol's editorials …

Most US adults in the dark about world politics  —  Two-thirds of US adults admit to being in the dark about political issues outside the United States, and only a third are well-versed in US politics, the results of a poll published Tuesday showed.  —  Candidates in the US presidential primaries …

14 U.S. soldiers killed in chopper crash  —  BAGHDAD - A Black Hawk helicopter went down Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said, the deadliest crash since January 2005.  —  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, lashed out at American criticism …

Weimar Watch I  —  The stab-in-the-back right is, alas, only entrenching itself as the need to deny reality in Iraq grows.  Glenn Reynolds links approvingly to this strange Victor Davis Hanson splutter at NRO.  Let's fisk it, shall we? … This, it appears, is something that Hanson believes we should not have done.

BRUNO: STONE HAS RESIGNED (UPDATED)  —  That was fast.  —  In a just-released statement, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno called the Roger Stone phone call flap "a distraction from the real issues - the abuse of government power, political espionage and a cover-up of information," …

White House Manual Details How to Deal With Protesters  —  Not that they're worried or anything.  But the White House evidently leaves little to chance when it comes to protests within eyesight of the president.  As in, it doesn't want any.  —  A White House manual that came …

Field Poll shows Californians lean toward dividing electoral votes  —  (08-21) 04:00 PDT Sacramento —  California voters are inclined to support a proposed ballot initiative that would change how the Golden State allocates its electoral votes in presidential campaigns …

One in four read no books last year  —  WASHINGTON - There it sits on your night stand, that book you've meant to read for who knows how long but haven't yet cracked open.  Tonight, as you feel its stare from beneath that teetering pile of magazines, know one thing — you are not alone.

The Ghosts of Anbar, Part 1 of 4  —  The Ghosts of Anbar  —  Part One: The Paradox of Counterinsurgency … To know a man, follow his tracks.  —  Anbar Province  —  June, 2007  —  Iraq and this part of the world are complicated in the way, and by the way, that dysfunction always is "complicated."

Not so fast, Christian soldiers  —  The Pentagon has a disturbing relationship with private evangelical groups.  —  Maybe what the war in Iraq needs is not more troops but more religion.  At least that's the message the Department of Defense seems to be sending.

Romney's rhetoric glosses Mass. years  —  Skips some facts on healthcare law  —  Kenny Guinn (right), former governor of Nevada, joked with Mitt Romney yesterday in Las Vegas, where the Republican contender is campaigning for president.  (Isaac Brekken/associated press)

Federal No-Bid Contracts On Rise  —  Under pressure from the White House and Congress to deliver a long-delayed plan last year, officials at the Department of Homeland Security's counter-narcotics office took a shortcut that has become common at federal agencies: They hired help through a no-bid contract.