Entries for February 2007

There he was, in all his glory–and his Ralph Lauren tux–accepting an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. He was not the old Al Gore we have come to know who, well, bores us. He was funny. He was genuinely happy. He wasn't debating about putting Medicare money in a lockbox. He was THE darling of Hollywood; no more No. 2. And what about that 2000 presidential race that Democrats are so mad at him about? Ah, never mind.

A confession: I am a complete political junkie. I love this stuff. The campaign trail, the candidates, their policies (yes, their policies), their foibles, their interaction with voters, the whole thing. So count me addicted.

Anyone can be forgiven for losing track of what's going on in the perjury trial of Scooter Libby. After all, it's about who told what to whom and when. The fact that a covert CIA operative's name was leaked to the press–as it turns out, inadvertently by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage–is not even the matter at hand, although it was the reason a special counsel was appointed in the first place.

For the life of me, I can't figure out how it's advantageous for Republicans to postpone a vote on the war. I understand the cute politics that is being played here: The Republicans (led by the White House) are essentially trying to call the Democrats' bluff. If you're really against the war and the troop surge, they taunt, then vote to cut off funds. And the Democrats won't do that–and they know that any measure that says "we won't cut off funds" for the troops is bound get unanimous approval. And the president could claim the largest victory.