Memo to Howard Dean: The DNC should offer to buy time on national television for the voice of Republicanism, Tom DeLay, to sing his praises for the Grand Old Party.

The Exterminator is back, leading the “Today Show,” the walking, talking advertisement for the Culture of Corruption.

Memo To Chris Van Hollen and Chuck Schumer: Get out those old photos of the smiling Exterminator side by side with his proud and smiling Republican colleagues. Read more...

To: Dr. Watson
From: Holmes

Watson, I smell a rat. I want you to devote your investigative resources to uncover the rat. Here is what we know:

1. A well-qualified U.S. attorney in Arkansas was fired under suspicious circumstances.

2. Arkansas is the former residence of one Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has already been subject to unsavory attacks from right-wing conspiracies, vast and otherwise.

3. The well-qualified fired U.S. attorney was replaced by one Timothy Griffin. Mr. Griffin is a former aide to Karl Rove, the King of oppo research and smears. Karl took an aggressive personal interest in his hiring as U.S. attorney. Read more...

It seems that Newt Gingrich is really laboring under the illusion that he can manage to stay out of the Republican primaries until the fall of this year and then begin to run. If he really believes that, he is the modern equivalent of the candidates of earlier times (like Humphrey in 1968) who stayed out of the primaries and got nominated by the party bosses.

But Newt is just wrong in his calculations. By the fall, Rudy will have raised his first 50 million and will be en route to his second 50. A candidate who starts at zero on Labor Day 2007 cannot hope to compete so as to climb the steep trajectory necessary to have the money needed to run in a national primary on Feb. 5, 2008.  Read more...

Imagine for a moment you are on a bus trip.

Driving the bus is somebody who has never driven a bus before. But he seems very confident that he knows how the bus works and where it is going.

Helping him navigate are two old-timers who have seen it all before. While they haven’t driven this bus in particular, they have been around a lot of buses in their time.

One of the old-timers is so confident he knows everything about buses, he starts tinkering with the bus as the trip commences, thinking he can get more mileage and more efficiency from it.

The other old-timer is convinced that this bus trip is essential for the future of all mankind, and his confidence is infectious. Read more...

As the U.S. military prepared to invade Iraq in March 2003, the Pentagon predicted a quick and decisive victory. But Tuesday, as the nation enters its fifth year of war in Iraq, the United States finds itself in the midst of a troop increase that will bring its force in Iraq to around 160,000.  According to the Pentagon, 3,197 U.S. military deaths have occurred since the U.S. has been at war with Iraq.

Today we find ourselves surrounded by anti-war rallies and vigils in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Sacramento. Some organizers estimate that at least 1,000 rallies will take place nationwide. Read more...

That gnawing emptiness I have struggled with for so long was really starting  to sap my soul. But now I know it was just my Tom DeLay deficiency. Thank goodness he's back.

After leaving Congress under an ethical cloud last year, DeLay (R-Texas) hit the talk show circuit and was so magnanimous he practically sounded like he was trying out for the role of GOP elder statesman. He said he could do more from the outside and would continue working on behalf of the principles he and so many social conservatives hold dear. But it hasn't taken long for The Hammer to come out swinging once more. In his new book, No Retreat, No Surrender, DeLay bashes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) as "an ineffective speaker of the House," a description even Gingrich's enemies would likely dispute. DeLay takes a whack at President Bush in his book — no surprise there, since the only challenge these days is to find people NOT criticizing Bush. But the real shocker is that DeLay couldn't spare poor Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the man DeLay pressured into the job of Speaker in 1998. "I consider George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Denny Hastert all to be good men," DeLay reportedly writes, "but there is not an articulate voice among them.

It's hard to guess what DeLay's five-year plan is. I just hope the book does well and he soon hits the tour. There's no telling what could pour forth with friendly crowds at book signings.

The next generation of Republicans will spend their political careers promising not to make the draconian mistakes that George W. Bush and his Republican supporters in Congress are still escalating in a war that should not have been fought.

George W. Bush is the first commander in chief in history to host a National Political Convention that handed out toys to make fun of the Purple Heart, to demean the leader of the opposition, who was awarded bronze and silver stars for valor.

Even when Ann Coulter demeaned widows of 9/11, calling them harpies, the man who used 9/11 for partisan politics lacked the honor and chivalry to defend them, and his partisans in Congress, as usual, remained silent. Read more...

The latest Gallup poll reports that Giuliani leads among Republican Primary voters who attend church weekly or more. Although his margin is lower than it is for those who go less frequently, it still shows that Rudy is overcoming the difficulty one might expect he would have with the religious right.

Among the 42% of the Gallup sample who attend church weekly or more, Rudy leads McCain by 31-24, with Gingirch at 13% and Romney at 7%. Among those who do not go weekly, Rudy leads by 48-21, with Gingrich at 7 and Romney at 6.

These data not only highlight the strength Rudy has among Christians but also the absence of any opponent that excites them. If former Sen. Fred Thompson or Gingrich were to get into the race, the situation might change significantly.

Also of interest is the fact that the majority (58%) of the Gallup GOP sample attends church either "nearly weekly or monthly" or "rarely if at all".

I may be old fashioned, but you should do the job you are being paid to do before you try to get a new job. John McCain disgraced his candidacy and the nation by absenting himself in the crucial vote to include a resolution defunding the Iraq War in the appropriations bill. The amendment was defeated by 50 votes against and 48 in favor. Two members were absent: Tim Johnson who is still seriously ill and John McCain. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, and Sam Brownback, all of whom are senators running for president managed to find the time to show up, but not McCain.

His straight talk express was roiling around the Iowa countryside. I thought straight talk included showing up when they are paying you!!!