But I entertain an even darker suspicion. It is that the intelligence community, which has for some years now been leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush, is doing it again.

Yes, that's right, the king of the neo-cons thinks the CIA is now part of a left wing conspiracy to get W. And this is Rudy's #1 foreign policy guy.

Dark Suspicions about the NIE - Norman Podhoretz

"I'm thinking about Ron Paul" as a running mate, Kucinich told a crowd of about 70 supporters at a house party here, one of numerous stops throughout New Hampshire over the Thanksgiving weekend. A Kucinich-Paul administration could bring people together "to balance the energies in this country," Kucinich said.

Ummmm... Not sure what to say about this one, but what the hell.

If Kucinich wins nomination, Ron Paul could be his veep - OPENERS - Ohio Politics Blog by The Plain Dealer

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton trails five top Republican presidential contenders in general election match-ups, a drop in support from this summer, according to a poll released on Monday.

Funny how that "electability" problem keeps cropping up...

New poll shows Clinton trails top 2008 Republicans - Yahoo! News

The Education Department's inspector general says he will review whether federal money is inappropriately being spent on programs by a company founded by Neil Bush, the president's brother.

Whoops. Brother Neil is back. But wait, let's combine that with this

Former first lady Barbara Bush gave relief money to a hurricane relief fund on the condition that it be spent to buy educational software from her son Neil's company."

and now we're looking at the former first lady going under the gun for tax fraud (bad charitable donation, with money earmarked for her son's company making a useless product).

Nepotism is one thing. When it starts moving into what look like kickbacks and tax fraud, we've left simple incompetence behind. Neil got away with Silverado under Poppy's watch, now he's back under W's. The Corleone's aren't this successful.

Spending Look Eyed for Neil Bush Company | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

The employee wore a striped prison outfit, dreadlocks and darkened skin make-up to the party hosted by Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Myers was on a three-judge panel that originally praised the prisoner costume for "originality."

Hmmm... I suppose he could have shown up in Minstrel show blackface...

DHS employee put on leave after wearing 'offensive' costume - CNN.com

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Friday he won't support Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, further undercutting his chances for a quick confirmation, because Mukasey hasn't taken a firm enough stand against torture.

Undercutting? No, try ending. With this, Mukasey won't get a single Democrat, and could lose Specter and maybe Chuck Grassley (the rest of the R side will go with the White House and Lindsey Graham).

"No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture,"

That pretty much sums up the problem.
update: Looks like Schumer and Feinstein may flip and hand this over to the liar in chief. Black day.

Sen. Leahy to Oppose Mukasey for AG - Politics on The Huffington Post

Bush said it was unfair to ask Mukasey about interrogation techniques on which he has not been briefed. "He doesn't know whether we use that technique or not,"

Whether we "use that technique" or not is not, and was not, the question. The question is, "Is waterboarding torture?" The answer is yes. W is a complete tool and I don't expect him to be able to figure that one out, and I think Mukasey declined to answer because he knows (just like everyone else in the world knows) that we have been doing it, and if we have been doing it (which we have) then Mukasey would be legally bound to start war crimes prosecutions.

I expect there will not be another AG under this administration. Anyone who would be offered the job is too corrupt to get through confirmation, and anyone with any integrity would never be nominated because they would immediately turn and bite the hand that fed them. Off.

Sen. Kennedy Turns Against AG Nominee

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."

...

McConnell has taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election.

At least that bribes is legal. Give them a contract so they can turn around and give part of it to the reelection fund. Sounds like a kickback to me.

McConnell marks funds for contractor

FEMA gave real reporters only 15 minutes notice about Tuesday's news conference . But because there was so little advance notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in.

And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.

On Thursday, FEMA employees had played the part of reporters. Johnson issued a statement Friday, saying that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."

Wow. Just wow. Set things up for a news conference that the newsies can't get to, then stock the crowd with fake reporters? Didn't we already have that happen with Jeff Gannon?

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker FEMA under fire for ‘faking’ news conference «

The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life.

And this is the sort of thing that passes for Serious Thought over on the right, I mean lunatic fringe. If this came to pass, of course the "cowardly electorate" would have tossed him on front of a speeding train! The course of action described here would have shown him to be a monster on a par with Hitler as opposed to a monstrous bumbler on a par with Mussolini.

Dept. Of It's Good To Be King: Beloved DC Think Tank Calls For Bush To Nuke Iraq and Become World Dictator