THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S FECKLESS RESPONSE TO THE RUSSIAN INVASION.  —  It is impossible to think about the Russian assault on Georgia without feeling like a heartless bastard or a romantic fool.  Should we just let Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev roll their tanks into Tbilisi in recognition …

BEWARE  —  You can see the extremely bellicose statements of Vice President Cheney and Sen. McCain (soul mates on this issue) on the conflict in Georgia.  And a number of Democratic-affiliated foreign policy hands are roughly on the same side of this issue, if not quite as utterly nuts …

Russian troops close in on Georgian capital  —  Russia's punitive campaign in the Caucasus threatened to spiral into an all-out war against the independent state of Georgia tonight, with Russian troops seizing control of several strategic towns a couple of hours from the capital, Tbilisi, and aircraft pounding Georgian infrastructure.

Putin Makes His Move  —  The details of who did what to precipitate Russia's war against Georgia are not very important.  Do you recall the precise details of the Sudeten Crisis that led to Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia?  Of course not, because that morally ambiguous dispute …

Georgia: A Reality Check for the Left  —  Everyone should read this opinion piece in today's Washington Post.  It's written by Ronald D. Asmus, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration and Richard Holbrooke, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration.

Wolfson: Edwards' Cover-up Cost Clinton the Nomination  —  Aides Say She Would Have Won Iowa if Edwards Affair was Exposed  —  Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year …