Front-Runner No-Shows at GOP Minority Debates Assailed  —  Former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts Calls Decision Not to Attend 'Stupid'  —  A former member of the House Republican congressional leadership — and the last African-American to serve as a member of the GOP in Congress …

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:

Clinton pulling away from Obama in New Hampshire  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has significantly increased her lead over rival Barack Obama in the crucial early-voting state of New Hampshire, according to a CNN/WMUR poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire released Tuesday.

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 …

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(D-VA) made an impassioned appeal to his fellow senators, declaring that the Lieberman-Kyl amendment on Iran should be "withdrawn" because the "proposal is Dick Cheney's fondest pipe dream."

Ahmadinejad Gets Laughed At  —  Watch Ahmadinejad's face here.  —  He's not being feared.  He's being laughed at.  Imagine how the Iranian people feel seeing these clips (and they're seeing them).  Imagine how the rest of the Iranian government feels being made to look so foolish …

White House upset over copy of Bush speech posted to U.N. website  —  Apparently, a marked-up draft of the president's speech popped up on the U.N.'s website as President Bush delivered his remarks this morning before the General Assembly, USA TODAY's David Jackson reports.

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.

Teaching Moment  —  President Bollinger ended his remarks to President Ahmadinejad at Morningside Heights yesterday with these words: "I am only a professor, who is also a university president, and today I feel all the weight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand for.

The Right Fight for Democrats  —  This week's showdown over children's health insurance is the first skirmish in the new battle for universal health coverage.  It is also the first confrontation between the president and Congress fought out almost entirely on terms set by the new Democratic majority.

Bed-wetter Nation  —  Here's a big question that I want to start addressing in upcoming posts: what is conservative rule doing to our nation's soul?  How is it rewiring our hearts and minds?  What kind of damage are they doing to the American character?  And can we ever recover?

France says nuclear weapons in Iran's hands 'unacceptable'  —  French President Nicolas Sarkozy piled pressure on Iran at the United Nations Tuesday, saying it would be unacceptable for the Islamic republic to get hold of nuclear weapons.  —  Sarkozy's comments came just hours …

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 …

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.

Israel Lobby's Pull Pales Next to Evil Saudi Input  —  It's been a while since a book about American Jews has elicited as much controversy as "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," in which professors John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University argue …