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 …

Hoyer hails FISA bill as “a significant victory for the Democratic Party”  —  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: … In other words, Democrats achieved a “significant victory” …

Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Department  —  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 …

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.

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 …

OBAMA/MCCAIN: ‘PSYCHOLOGICAL’ BENEFIT?  —  Yesterday, McCain admitted that his offshore drilling proposal would probably have mostly “psychological” benefits, NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy reports.  At a town hall in Fresno that primarily focused on energy issues, McCain was asked a question …

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

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 …

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 …

Fox Analyst: Iraqis ‘Owe Us’ 100-Year Leases On Their Oil, ‘We Ought To Take It’  —  Last week, the New York Times reported that four Western oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP — are in the final stages of negotiating no-bid oil contracts “to service Iraq's largest fields.”

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 …

WJC on board — if not enthused just yet  —  Bill Clinton has issued a one-sentence endorsement for Obama via spokesman Matt McKenna:  —  “President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States,” McKenna said.

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.

Obama tacks away from his left-wing base  —  Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is shifting to the center after months of battling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for the hearts of the Democratic Party's liberal base.  —  His recent strategy of political triangulation has already sparked a fight …

Senators' mortgages under microscope  —  Amid a brewing scandal over special mortgage deals given to two U.S. senators, Politico last week asked the offices of all 100 senators to describe the circumstances under which they obtained their own home loans.  Seventy-seven senators have complied so far.