The more I see this administration's mishandling of foreign policy, the more I think back to a post I wrote some time ago about how much damage this group would do before losing power, and how much they might do to keep it. They are surpassing anything that I thought possible. Just when you thought American influence in that region could not go any lower...

Given (a) Rove's involvement in every aspect of white house policy; (b) the confluence of what's happening in the middle east with the religious right's version of armageddon; and (c) the use of fear as a routine tool in Republican politics, I don't see it as in the Administration's interest to have hostilities cease. Fear and rapture get the base to the polls. It's all they have left.

On to Iran... Start the bus.

From Atrios:

"Now the Christian Coalition has moved onto the national scene. Earlier this year, the group opened a three-person lobbying office in a redbrick town house a few blocks from the US Capitol. "We're doing the Lord's work in the devil's city," cracks Marshall Wittmann, the coalition's director of legislative affairs."

Has the moose gone over to the dark side? Or is this just one of those coincidences?

UPDATE: Did not realize that Wittman used to work for Reed and his ilk.  That explains both his love for McCain and his position on a host of issues.  Seriously, what is this guy doing in the DLC?

The lead-off of Kurtz's column today has got to be a new low.  Of course, ana marie cox's success (from anal sex expert to time magazine columnist) provides the fodder for stuff like this.  It makes one think he's just longing for the days when the news was simple--like when all of washington was swooning over the presence of a blue dress.

I'd call him a wanker, but I don't think he could take it.

Page 1, above the fold: It's hot out.

Page A4: President cuts off justice department investigation of wiretap program.

Having switched for over a month now, I love it. I switched, and although it's not quite as fast as a PC, it's fast enough for most of what I need to do. There was a review in the Washington post of the Vista beta, which suggests that it's a resource hog. There are also reports of OS X being run on PCs.

The rapture is indeed upon us.

In statements that were picked up by a microphone, Bush stated that Syria could stop Hezbollah in Lebanon.

So what I don't understand is, how can Syria be realistically expected to stop Hezbollah in Lebanon if the U.S. (in one of the only diplomatic successes for this adminsitration) and Lebanon successfully and peacefully ousted the Syrians from control of the Lebanese government?  (I am not being sarcastic--I genuinely don't understand this).