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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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 …

What Defines a Killing as Sectarian?  —  U.S. Military Teams Analyze and Tally Each Civilian Death  —  On Sept. 1, the bullet-riddled bodies of four Iraqi men were found on a Baghdad street.  Two days later, a single dead man, with one bullet in his head, was found on a different street.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …