The Ugly Side of the G.O.P.  —  I applaud the thousands of people, many of them poor, who traveled from around the country to protest in Jena, La., last week.  But what I'd really like to see is a million angry protesters marching on the headquarters of the National Republican Party in Washington.

Queen Hillary, Empress of Mesopotamia  —  My friend, David Brooks, does his best to reinforce the Hillary-Is-Inevitable consensus in Washington right now.  He may regret this, though: … Then we hear this from a right-wing reporter with access to Bush:

Iraqi Prime Minister Says That Civil War Has Been Prevented  —  Maliki Also Plays Down Iran's Influence  —  Civil war has been averted in Iraq and Iranian intervention there has "ceased to exist," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said yesterday.  —  "I can't say there is a picture …

Democratic Party Maintains Solid Image Advantage Over GOP  —  Public Prefers Democratic Party to Republican for handling terrorism, military security  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Public attitudes toward the two major political parties have not changed much in recent months.

GOP Senator Says Bush Should Put Health Bill Before Policy Goal  —  A senior Senate Republican accused President Bush yesterday of holding a bipartisan expansion of the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program hostage to his broader policy goals of using tax deductions to help people afford private health insurance coverage.

Blogger files complaint over Giuliani ad  —  A liberal blogger has jumped into the New York Times-MoveOn.org-Rudy Giuliani fracas, filing a complaint against the former New York City mayor's presidential campaign.  —  Lane Hudson, who in recent weeks has sought to carve out a niche as something …

And another thing...  The morning after the Columbia spectacle two things bother me.  The first is that the majority of protesters outside the Columbia campus and inside were Jewish students.  In fact, those marching in the street were more likely than not to be wearing the kippas (boys) …

The Top Pundits In America  —  What exactly is a pundit?  According to the dictionary, it's "a person who makes comments or judgments, especially in an authoritative manner; critic or commentator."  —  There's certainly no shortage of that in the media these days.  —  Call the past decade the era of the talking head.

Actor Kevin Spacey meets with Chavez  —  CARACAS, Venezuela - Actor Kevin Spacey met privately Monday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of Washington's most outspoken critics in Latin America.  —  Neither Spacey — who has won Academy Awards for roles in "The Usual Suspects" and …

LIVE BY THE GOTCHA, DIE BY THE GOTCHA  —  You don't have to get into the appropriateness of the MoveOn ad or the intricacies of the NYT's ad rate schedule to conclude the obvious: The GOP is engaged in another round of cynical, exploitative caterwauling to change the subject from their party's Iraq debacle.

THE POLLSTER.COM DISCLOSURE PROJECT  —  Over the last few months I have written a series of posts that examined the remarkably limited methodological information released about pre-election polls in the early presidential primary states (here, here and here, plus related items here).

24 die in Iraq peace meeting blast  —  From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A suicide bombing in Iraq's volatile Diyala province ripped through a "reconciliation meeting" on Monday night attended by Sunni and Shiite militia leaders — a brazen attack that killed …

Webb: Lieberman And Kyl's Hawkish Iran Amendment Is 'Cheney's Fondest Pipe Dream'  —  On the Senate floor today, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) made an impassioned appeal to his fellow senators, declaring that the Lieberman-Kyl amendment on Iran should be "withdrawn" because the "proposal is Dick Cheney's fondest pipe dream."

Columbia's Conceit  —  Exactly what would it have accomplished to "engage in a debate" with Hitler?  —  On Saturday John Coatsworth, acting dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, made the remark that "if Hitler were in the United States and …

Two girls, the Saudi Religious Police, a mobile phone and a can of pepper spray  —  Jules Crittenden and Blue Star Chronicles have it:  —  Saudi Religious Police Attacked by Girls (emphasis added) … Notice how the crowd didn't take the Religious Police's side, either. … It gets better: