The inimitable Mister Derbyshire invites Iraqis of all stripes to refrain from cluttering his beautiful mind with their sorry gripes. MORE »

So, President Bush is on television right now, thrusting his fists against the same old posts, still insisting that he sees the same old ghosts. The speech is filled with so many of the same old quotations about the war in Iraq, that we can only assume that the dude who’s responsible for typing text into CNN’s scroll is CTRL-Ving his finger to the nub. For our part, the only way to make Bush’s speech fun is to play the fortune cookie game: MORE »

Hey! Who says that all the good news coming out of Iraq doesn’t get reported? Check out the glad tidings of great joy, in an article enthusiastically titled: “In a First, Iraq Executes 13 Insurgents.” MORE »

Good morning, Washington. Remember me? David, one of your regularly scheduled mavens of inside-the-Beltway snarkery is going out of town for a few days, so I’ll be sitting in for him, trading laffs with Alex for the next six days. MORE »

• President Bush wants us to believe that everything is going super-terrific well in Iraq, that democracy is on the march and that the electoral process is bringing hope and flowers and funnel cake to the misbegotten motherfuckers of Mesopotamia. BUT IF THAT IS TRUE: Why is the Pentagon sending their PAIN RAY (!?) to Iraq? [DefenseTech.org] MORE »

• Remember, Santa has a list! So be good for goodness’ sake, and do something nice, like helping out with some area plans to send a massive care package to the troops in Iraq. [DC Blogs] MORE »

The administration has been resolute in their insistence that there would be no timetable for withdrawal in Iraq. We guess the idea is that the sudden, unexplained disappearance of American troops from Iraq will so gobsmack the terrorists that they’ll be too busy, you know…having their minds BLOWN to create an insurgent surge. Still, remember when the President said this morning that it’s the stupid pre-911 tradition of “an open debate on the law” that aids and comforts the enemy? Well, Eleanor Stables at CQ Daily has ferreted out the latest terrorist sympathizer among us.

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• Leahy, Baucus, Johnson will support Roberts; Kerry, Kennedy, Corzine, Boxer, Reid will vote no. [NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Bush multitasks over second Supreme Court nomination, hurricanes, Iraq, and Social Security; talks of Katrina and terrorists, “They’re the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it. We’re in a war against these people.” [NYT, USAT]
• Republicans propose spending cuts as Congress passes $6b in Katrina-related tax breaks. [WSJ, WP, USAT]
• Next Supreme Court nominee will face heightened scrutiny. [WP]
• House Republicans will pursue inquiry of government’s response to Katrina in spite of boycott by Democrats. [WP, NYT]

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