Remember the CNN/YouTube debate? It was only a week ago, but now that it has so vastly changed the nature of presidential debates — so much so, in fact, that we can hardly remember the older, stodgier variety — it should be noted that the Republicans have seen the future and said, "No thanks."

The GOP faces the 'Tube on Sept. 17; invitations went out last week, and so far it looks as if "scheduling conflicts" may keep Rudy Giuliani from getting there, as much as he would love to. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) watched the Democrats squirming before a gay couple asking about marriage, a snowman and a grown man cradling a gun the size of a Labrador retriever and calling it his "baby." McCain, who fought off torturers in a prison cell for nearly six years during the Vietnam War, said taking questions from a snowman is "frankly inappropriate." Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said "the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman."  Read more...

There are no words to describe the intensity of my scorn for anyone who has anything to do with pit bull fighting. As one who is owned by two cats and a beloved dog, I fantasize about somehow giving these contemptible subhumans a taste of their own medicine, perhaps placing them, unprotected, in a ring full of the violent killers they created by their brutality to trusting puppies.

Whatever the legal outcome, the Michael Vick case has caused us to consider cruelty to animals. Oh, we were aware, but we chose not to think about it. But frankly, we're still only pondering one small facet of it.  Read more...

The polling is in and Hillary made a big mistake in her sharp disagreement with Obama over whether the president should meet with leaders of rogue nations. According to a Rasmussen poll, Democrats agree with Obama over Hillary by 55 percent to 22. Without a poll to pre-test her comments, Hillary instinctively took the “insider” position that the president should only meet with such leaders after extensive probing by subordinates to assure that the meetings would be productive. But she was wrong. Democrats want the president to meet with leaders of such nations without preconditions.  Read more...

Charles Krauthammer, not content with having been proven deadly wrong in his worldview of many years, learning nothing from the bloody disasters of the policies he so aggressively promoted, now attacks Barack Obama for suggesting America should talk with enemies as well as friends.

Our first and last neoconservative president, George W. Bush, is the lead witness for the prosecution in the case whose verdict is the death of neoconservatism.

Never has any philosophy been proven so wrong, so fatal, so disastrous for our country and so deadly for our troops as the views expounded by neoconservative theoreticians. Read more...

The weekend headlines bring no respite from the bad news. Two of the absolute worst suggestions are now in the public domain, the first courtesy of Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and the second from our old friend John Edwards.

Dumb Idea #1. Senate Democrats are proposing that an independent counsel (i.e., special prosecutor) be appointed to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys back in December. As the song goes, “When will they ever learn?” Read more...

This is a crucial moment in world history; wars are raging, countries are forming and terrorists are plotting. The opportunity to make positive change and bring about good in the world is right at our fingertips. But in order to make a lasting impact, we as a global community need to be united. This is why I was so disappointed in Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican for releasing a document stating that Roman Catholicism is the only true path to salvation. The document also said that other Christian and Orthodox communities are either defective or not true churches. These actions by the Catholic Church are a big blow to the movement for peace and unity amongst religions and nations. Read more...

This is why people hate Washington.

Congress is going to vote to hold members of the White House in contempt for refusing to allow staff to testify over the firings of some U.S. attorneys.

Can we vote to hold Washington in contempt for refusing to deal with issues that really matter, like entitlement reform, education, crime, healthcare and war?  Read more...

First of all, you've gotta give Hillary's advisers some credit here. Whether it's fair or not, the female candidate has to show the world she can stand her ground with all the nasty guys, foreign and domestic.

So at the same time, she is duking it out with ...

* The aggressive Pentagon policy chief, Eric Edelman, who called her demands to know of troop withdrawal planning a boost for "enemy propaganda." Clearly she's winning that fight. The defense secretary himself has been falling over himself to smooth things over, sending Clinton a letter that is apologetic almost to the point of groveling. Read more...

10. Who will be commissioned to write Dick Cheney’s presidential memoirs, Three Hours That Changed America?

9. America speaks: The city council of West Hollywood, Calif., passed a resolution urging impeachment of President Bush. Can Cambridge, Mass., and the Upper East Side of Manhattan be far behind?

8. If, as reported by The Washington Post, labor unions hired the homeless to walk their picket lines, is that a case of outsourcing American jobs to foreigners? I hope at least the picketers were given a “living wage,” not to mention health insurance and paid maternity leave.  Read more...