The New Republic

Via Deadspin, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Indians have a sneaky plan to torment tonight's Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett, who shut them down in game one of the series. Singing the national anthem and God Bless America will be Beckett's ex-girlfriend, country singer Danielle Peck. READ MORE >>

I'm hoping life isn't starting to imitate the Terminator movies... --Michael Crowley READ MORE >>

I don't know whether it is the Christmas season that will be intruded upon by presidential politics or the holiday season. But either way -- or both -- it is a sign that the candidates have no sense of respect for ordinary voters and their quotidian lives. It is the politicians' egos that permit them to devote more than a year and close to two years to the pursuit of the presidency. READ MORE >>

The Muslim fanatics whom she abhors welcomed Benazir Bhutto home with the explosion of two bombs killing more than 100 of her supporters and wounding God-only-knows-how-many-others from among 150,000 Pakistanis who had surrounded the truck in which she arrived in Karachi. "Pinky," as she was called at Harvard (where I knew her quite well) and Oxford, has and always had left-wing politics. But she was never attracted to the Islamo-fascistic madness which drives and divides her country. Of course, charges of corruption have stuck to her and to her husband for many years. READ MORE >>

You know who "Chemical Ali" is. A hard man to get sentimental about or soft towards. He has been convicted of, well, killing by chemical warfare and more quotidian instruments of death thousands upon thousands of Iraqis. The Sunni leadership, repeating its sentimental masquerade against the execution of Saddam Hussein, is now agitating to keep this second or third underling monster alive. Yes, everyone's soul belongs to God, I suppose. But God will have to take possession of it perforce, which after all is the way of Iraq. READ MORE >>

In their interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News tonight, Rudy Giuliani and his wife Judith completely fled from the notion that she would have a policy role in his administration. "I'm not political," Judith said, "and so, no, I know that I would never do that sort of thing." And so what would her role be? If we're fortunate enough to have Rudy serve the American people, Sean, I would, again, continue to take care of him. And to support him in any of the endeavors that he needs my support in. READ MORE >>

Stealing First [Thomas Beaumont, Des Moines Register]: "Iowa Republicans have scheduled the party's presidential caucuses for Jan. 3, arguing the date would preserve the state's coveted leadoff status but avoid starting the nominating process in 2007." READ MORE >>

The Post has a nice piece today about one of the fundamental problems of the Obama campaign--the possibility (likelihood, in my mind) that a message of post-partisan unity and fundamental change won't capture the imaginations of Democrats nursing deep resentments after seven years of Bush. This graf distilled it for me: READ MORE >>

Last night I invoked the name of one Manny Papir, a former aide to Rudy Giuliani who, according to New York magazine, was sacked after he bad-mouthed Hizzoner's wife: READ MORE >>

This probably comes as little consolation to all those Red Sox fans who suffered through last night's meltdown, but, my earlier post notwithstanding, it does appear that Mitt Romney is truly one of their own. (Depending on your views of the ex-governor, I guess that could also be considered insult to injury.) My colleague Jonathan Cohn writes: READ MORE >>