Andy Olmsted  —  Andrew Olmsted, who also posted here as G'Kar, was killed yesterday in Iraq.  Andy gave me a post to publish in the event of his death; the last revisions to it were made in July.  —  Andy was a wonderful person: decent, honorable, generous, principled, courageous, sweet, and very funny.

Bill Clinton takes a swipe at media  —  Bill Clinton voiced his abiding anger at the media's coverage of him and his wife in Durham, N.H., today, and suggested that media bias will force Clinton to go negative on Barack Obama.  —  He also expressed his frustration that his wife is perceived …

Hillary Booed at NH Democratic Party Dinner  —  If the New Hampshire Democratic Party's 100 Club dinner is any bell weather - Barack Obama will handily win here.  When Obama, the dinner's last speaker, took the stage the crowd surged forward chanting “O-bam-a” and “Fired Up, Ready to Go!”

Trust Me  —  In all my dealings with Obama people, as well as the man himself, there's always been this sense that they're constantly telling people, “Trust us.  We've thought this through.  We know what we're doing.  It'll work.  Yes we understand that you're uncomfortable with this …

Obama: Ecstasy & Agony  —  This is just a late Friday night prediction.  But after reading this regrettable excess from Ezra Klein as well as all of the more reasonable but nonetheless hopeful, proud, idealistic and sincere sentiments of pride and well-wishing for Obama as the first serious …

THE FEVER SWAMP....Former Dan Quayle speechwriter Lisa Schiffren is.....what?  To be admired for laying her psyche so bare in public?  To be pitied for having the psyche she apparently has?  I'm not sure.  But here she is today at The Corner: … As long as we're laying our cards on the table …

Inside the Ring  —  Inside the Ring  —  Coughlin sacked  —  Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff.  The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work …

Helping Huck  —  I am informed that Dick Morris and Newt Gingrich are helping Huckabee behind the scenes.  Morris has been everywhere today promoting Huckabee.

Feel the Love  —  Remember those heady days after the 2004 presidential elections when liberals were chided as coastal elites who were being punished by the electorate for mocking the heartland and its treasured traditional values?  Remember when those folksy Christian Midwesterners …

One-time fugitive Democratic fundraiser sentenced to prison  —  REDWOOD CITY, California (AP) — A former fugitive captured in Colorado has been sentenced to three years in prison — after a judge rejected his bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction.

Worthless chatter  —  I love when this happens.  It's a reminder that the political prattle that spews forth from group-think media stars without end and which consumes our political dialogue for a full year is based on absolutely nothing.  Also, most predictive “analysis” …

Economists React: ‘Looking for a Bunker to Hide in’  —  Economists and others weigh in on the weaker-than-expected gain in payrolls and the rise in the unemployment rate.  —  The sharp jump in the unemployment rate — from 4.7% to 5.0% — may be the most alarming feature of this report.