The New Republic

Three quick thoughts in response to Jason's post about Poppy and Jeb. First, it's not such a stretch for Jason to theorize that, deep down, H.W. might have preferred Jeb to be the son who ascended to the White House. The Bush family literature is filled with this kind of thing. For example, The Bushes, the tome written by Bush-family confidants Peter and Rochelle Schweizer, includes the following paragraph about H.W.'s thoughts during the 1994 campaign season: READ MORE >>

During his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing today, one of Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates' most telling exchanges was with Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. In it, Gates came very close to endorsing the view of Iraq war critics that the Bush administration should have focused on Osama Bin Laden rather than Saddam Hussein. He also expressed extreme reluctance about going to war with Iran, or for that matter, Syria. READ MORE >>

Jeffrey Rosen predicts that the Roberts Court will find an abortion compromise short of overturning Roe v. Wade; Cynthia Ozick reviews a play about the life of Rachel Corrie, a dubious martyr; Elspeth Reeve recounts the travails of bipartisan cohabitation; and John B. READ MORE >>

Looks like the Bush administration is going to need to send someone else to Turtle Bay. Fortunately, there are a lot of Republicans in D.C. who are about to be unemployed. Any bets on how long it takes for the "Santorum to the U.N." campaign to begin? Update: Anyone who predicted 47 minutes wins. --Jason Zengerle READ MORE >>

Frank Rich, who loves disparaging Republicans for McCarthyism, seems to be following the late Wisconsin senator's playbook. Summing up the president in his Sunday op-ed, Rich writes, "I have not been one to buy into the arguments that Mr. Bush is stupid or is the sum of his 'Bushisms' or is, as feverish Internet speculation periodically has it, secretly drinking again. I still don't." Nice of him to pass on the rumor nevertheless. --Isaac Chotiner READ MORE >>

In dueling attempts to offer the most conventional take possible on the conventional wisdom, both Time and Newsweek have cover stories this week lauding the Baker commission's not-yet-released report. Here's how Time hypes their piece: "The President is about to get a very public intervention from the Baker Commission. READ MORE >>

The Washington Post's Outlook section this week devotes considerable space to famous historians' assessments of where Bush will place on the list of our country's greatest presidents. Unsurprisingly, the consensus is that Bush 43 will rank, well, close to 43rd. READ MORE >>

This graf in today's Times piece on Obama v. Hillary reads like a complete non sequitur: READ MORE >>

Via the Corner, I see that Sam Brownback has just launched his proto-campaign for president. I'll have more to say on this--much more--in a couple of days. For the moment let me just say I think this guy is going to play a much bigger role in the GOP nomination fight than the early accounts suggest. --Noam Scheiber READ MORE >>

Randy Cohen, the New York Times "Ethicist," laid a big egg yesterday in counseling an Internet technician who stumbled onto the company president's personal stash of child porn to keep his mouth shut. Cohen argues that, since it's not totally clear the boss is up to no good (really?), this doesn't justify imperiling the man's reputation: READ MORE >>