Short on time today, I regret I can’t post original material here. But if you don’t mind jumping over to TMV or Central Sanity, here are my thoughts on the …

NYT op-ed by Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack re: the surge in Iraq

WaPo story by Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein re: AG Gonzales’ many woes

RCP post by Blake Dvorak re: Gingrich and the modern state of Presidential-candidate debates.

As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

At the CNN/YouTube debate, Hillary outright walked (ran) away from the term “liberal” and bear-hugged “progressive” as her preferred moniker.

Other “progressives” apparently agree.

I suggested at CS, this afternoon, that maybe it’s time for conservatives to do the same, especially those (like me) who prefer the conservative paradigm articulated by Andrew Sullivan.

After reading that headline, you’re probably wondering: “Steve who? I don’t remember a Presidential candidate named Steve.”

Rest easy.  You’re not losing your mind.  At least, not for this reason.| MORE ›

As some of the readers here likely know, Michael and I trade duties on the regular “Center of Attention” feature at TMV. I’m currently attempting to contribute double-time on that feature while Michael’s out on his vacation/mini-sabbatical.

Now, I can’t speak for Michael, but for me — depending on the day of the week, my mood, what’s out there and what catches my eye — development of that CoA feature is (typically) one of two experiences; either collossus struggle or so-easy-it-writes-itself.| MORE ›

In yesterday’s installment, we looked at Andrew Sullivan’s “politics of doubt” and the basis for such a politics as articulated by Paul Ormerod in his book, Why Most Things Fail. We then concluded with a series of questions, namely:| MORE ›

A political philosophy is a tricky thing to articulate, especially today, when it seems there’s little left to say that hasn’t been said a hundred times before. Regardless, I continue to seek a fresh angle to this over-angled, over-analyzed, over-wrought debate about the ideal approach to governance.

Perhaps I’m bored. Perhaps this struggle is a sad substitution for the sports car I didn’t buy during my brief, mundane, mid-life crisis. Perhaps it’s something else altogether.| MORE ›

The big news in the liberal blogosphere on Monday was Joe Wilson’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton. The news of the endorsement went out to the blogs first via a conference call. The conference call is a major effort in reach out to the blogs by the Clinton campaign and a very smart move. Although Hillary has taken heat in the liberal blogosphere in the past, and this may not smooth the path 100%, it’s a significant step.| MORE ›

Vacation? What’s that? Here in America, we’re in the “land of the overworked and tired,” and sadly, as Ezra Klein reports in an OP/ED in the Sunday L.A. Times:

THE MOST astonishing revelations in Michael Moore’s “Sicko” have nothing to do with healthcare. They’re about vacation time. French vacation time, to be precise.

Yes, it’s true, the French and most of the European nations take far more vacation time than the average Americans and we’ve created a society of overworked and tired people.| MORE ›

Note to Michael’s readers: Greetings from the liberal side of the aisle and many thanks to Michael for the opportunity to post here while he’s on vacation.  The readers at The Democratic Daily have enjoyed Michael’s posts there, I hope his readers will enjoy mine.

In every presidential race there are always some longshot candidates that decide to make a bid, but I had no idea this guy was running… Until he dropped out:| MORE ›