Amb. Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus won’t set goalposts for Iraq. They won’t say when troops can start coming home in large numbers. They won’t define clear conditions for withdrawal. As they have been saying for nearly two days now, they will know success when they come upon it. This is kind of like Supreme Court Justice …

Creeping lame-duckism?

Nancy Pelosi has just announced that she will call for a change in the rules tomorrow to prevent a vote on the Colombia trade deal that President Bush sent to the Hill yesterday–in violation, congressional leaders say, of a deal they had to negotiate some other issues first, including Trade Adjustment Assistance …

• “One of them’s got a chocolate bar that’s been broken into pieces by its corporate owner, and the other’s got a jar of peanut butter, 60% of which has been scooped out and sold to increase the share price for Viacom shareholders. In the TV news business, we call that two once-great tastes that taste great together!” [Tuned In]

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Last night, The Week magazine presented its “Opinion Awards,” which it likes to bill as the only prize in journalism for opinion writing. Except for the Pulitzer.

The awards are, of course, also an occasion for a fancy dinner party and much elbow-rubbing and — because this is Washington — there is a panel. Last night’s panel consisted

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The lead story of today’s Washington Post:

Federal employees used government credit cards to pay for lingerie, gambling, iPods, Internet dating services, and a $13,000 steak-and-liquor dinner, according to a new audit from the Government Accountability Office, which found widespread abuses in a purchasing program meant to improve

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Just up on Time.com is this story I have written on Hillary Clinton’s not-quite-fired former chief strategist, the complications that come with all of his outside work and some questions that have been raised about his research methods.

As I was writing the story, I happened to come across another story that Michael Duffy and I had …

In no small part, I guess, because people like me keep fueling it.

But this answer to a running-mate question today from Reuters’ Arshad Mohammed was hardly what you would call Shermanesque:

Let me just say, first of all, that Senator McCain is an extraordinary American, a really outstanding leader, and obviously, a great patriot. That

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Not sure if this was expected or known in advance, but the announcement today that Elizabeth Edwards is joining the Center for American Progress as a senior fellow is striking in two ways. First, it’s great for CAP. Think tanks don’t often get the benefit of having famous and well-liked authors or thinkers on their staffs. Hers will be a …

At 2pm today, I’ll be on a Talk of the Nation panel talking about something that hasn’t gotten a lot of coverage lately: The state of political coverage. Adding to the headspinning symbolic veritgo: We’ll be broadcasting live from The Newseum, where — as you may have heard — my slippers represent the end of journalism.

Senator Hillary Clinton just wrapped up her turn asking questions of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. In tone, demeanor and command of the facts, she was – I thought – very impressive. Without grandstanding, she fufilled her oversight role and made some soberly effective points about the failures of the surge and the problems …

Interesting and informative liveblogging of the Petreaus and Crocker testimony at Democracy Arsenal. A deceptively simple but incisive point:

Petraeus and Crocker have no problems projecting out the potential implications of leaving Iraq – but they refuse to make projections of what staying will look like.

The NY Times is keeping a

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SCOOP! The Swamp blog has uncovered rare documentary evidence that the notoriously camera-shy (and reserved) HRC campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe is, in fact, an Obama supporter! Of course! I mean, he’s never been really definitive about his preference — there’s always been some wiggle room in there. I’m sure the campaign is devastated

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