According to Yglesias, the Anti-Defamation League has expanded its services beyond calling Jews like me anti-semitic, to conducting polls of the Israeli people on whether or not to attack Iran. (Surprise: Israelis want to attack Iran.) Needless to say, this has nothing to do with defamation…except, perhaps, self-defamation: the ADL is in the processing of [...]

1. The White House, er, “repeals” its decision to remove the word “repeal” from the official White House website statement of the Obama Administration’s plans for “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” For a while, the statement had been changed to read “supports changing” instead of “repeal.” But then people started asking, and someone told. 2. Mike [...]

No way of knowing whether this is a sign of incidental displeasure or if  the Supreme Leader is backing away from his flunky Ahmadinejad, in advance of the Iranian elections. But it is a reminder of who’s actually boss there.

The New York Times has an excellent piece this morning, in which this summer’s Af/Pak fighting season is previewed…from the Taliban point of view. The story is, essentially, an interview with an alleged Taliban strategist, who seems not only credible but remarkably well-informed about U.S. tactics and intentions. And, once again, the Taliban’s strategic advantage [...]

Did Barack Obama overlearn the lessons of 1994? The President has made a deliberate effort to stay out of the health care negotiations that are taking place on Capitol Hill, because he doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes that the Clintons made of sending up a plan and telling Congress to pass it–only to realize [...]

I guess…   WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) today issued the following statement announcing that Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) has joined the National Council for a New America’s panel of experts: “I am pleased to announce that Governor Palin has joined the National Council for a New America’s panel of experts.  When [...]

Sully on David Souter. I do find that Souter falls into a certain category of public servant that I admire tremendously–members of the no-bull caucus. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is certainly one of those, as is his mentor Brent Scowcroft. I think OMB Director Peter Orszag is, too. (Which is why, I’ve been told, the [...]

Maybe it was meant to be a consolation prize for Governor Rick Perry, after that whole secession thing didn’t work out and all. But the Texas Legislature’s effort to establish an official flag for the Governor ran into a bit of a problem over the weekend: The flag — with red, white and blue horizontal [...]

Turns out our most recent former President has also had a pretty busy 100 days. Michael Weisskopf and Michael Duffy are reporting: Longtime financial backers of the 43rd president have raised more than $100 million for a presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas that will house his official papers, sources close to Bush [...]