The Bush Paradox  —  Let's go back and consider how the world looked in the winter of 2006-2007.  Iraq was in free fall, with horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing that sent a steady stream of bad news across the world media.  The American public delivered a stunning electoral judgment …

Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Dept.  —  WASHINGTON — Justice Department officials over the last six years illegally used “political or ideological” factors to hire new lawyers into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with conservative credentials …

Hoyer hails FISA bill as “a significant victory for the Democratic Party”  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III)  —  Just as Nancy Pelosi ran to Time to justify her support for the FISA bill, Steny Hoyer yesterday spouted his justifications to The Politico and said this:

McCain's Core Advantage  —  In politics, we're having a Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr kind of year.  It was Karr, a French writer, who coined the phrase plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, which means, as Barack Obama has shown, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

GAO Report Faults Post-'Surge' Planning  —  Lack of Comprehensive Strategy Cited, but Pentagon Study Sees Gains in Iraq  —  The administration lacks an updated and comprehensive Iraq strategy to move beyond the “surge” of combat troops President Bush launched in January 2007 as an 18-month effort …

What's Wrong With the Kansas City Star?  —  A disgraceful contribution from their house cartoonist:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says —"I'm a victim of sexism myself all the time."  —  WASHINGTON—"I'm a victim of sexism myself all the time," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) discussing Tuesday morning whether sexism played a significant role in the defeat of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Ad showing men kissing pulled  —  Heinz has withdrawn its Deli Mayo TV ad that featured two men sharing a kiss and apologised to viewers after the advertising regulator received about 200 complaints that it was offensive and inappropriate.  —  The Heinz Deli Mayo ad has been pulled after less …

Are You Experienced?  —  Why a U.S. senator might not trump a state legislator  —  Obama during his days in the Illinois Senate  —  We are in the opening days of a presidential campaign that pits youth against age, the virtues of experience against the freshness and riskiness of the new arrival.

Retiring GOP reps frustrate leadership  —  House Republican leaders might be forgiven for thinking that retiring rank-and-file Republicans would soften the blow caused by their departures by casting some cost-free votes down the party line.  —  But they would be mistaken.

FISA: Call Your Wobbly FISA Senator  —  digg it  —  It's no secret, the Senate is getting ready to follow the House's lead and screw us on FISA, letting telecom criminals off the hook.  (For a real belly full of disgust, read this article on a preening Steny Hoyer in Politico.  Did he write it himself?)

Imus says he's defending, not offending ‘Pacman’ Jones  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — Radio host Don Imus said Tuesday he was making “a sarcastic point” that police often unfairly target blacks when he asked about Adam “Pacman” Jones' race on his show.  —  Imus, who lost his job last year after comments …