dancing, the Iraq Study group report debuts today at #1 on Billboard's Beltway Chatter chart. It's conclusion: No timelines but, for the sake of our troops, we must get our asses out by the '08 presidential primary season. Who paid for this, again?

The fact is this commission was composed apparently entirely of people who did not have the judgment to oppose this Iraq war in the first place, and did not have the judgment to realize it was not a wise move in the fight against terrorism. So that's who is doing this report. Then I looked at the list of who testified before them. There is virtually no one who opposed the war in the first place. Virtually no one who has been really calling for atactics and a fundamentally new strategy [...]

Changing the conversation is leadership for Obama. It changes the political situation - in a way that traditional partisans like the netroots might not grasp. People talk about Obama's limitless ambition coupled with his odd lack of apparent passion for controversial topics. It's all there, but the ambition isn't to build a stronger party and the passion isn't to craft legislation. It's to fundamentally change the way Americans talk to one another, and the way they go about solving problems.

Doh! Remember how the whole premise of Bush administration North Korea policy was that we shouldn't be offering 'pay-offs' to the North Koreans in exchange for them giving up their nuclear program? From yesterday's Times "The United States has offered a detailed package