Seems like everyone's following the lead of our flip-flopping 2008 presidential candidates -- from Columbia University president Lee Bollinger reversing course and bad-mouthing his guest, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Verizon changing direction and allowing NARAL to send pro-abortion text messages to its (Verizon's) customers after all. Is a national trend forming? Susannah and Bob discuss in the latest "Running Gags"!


Merci to my muse for mentioning both news stories.

Could a hot topic catapult a GOP second-tier candidate into the 2008 presidential nomination?

Earlier this year, it looked like illegal immigration could be that topic. It brought headlines to Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, and headaches for President Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Now Republicans seem united in opposing illegal immigration. In last week's presidential debate, McCain, after making an insensitive reference to "the Guatemalans" on Mitt Romney's lawn, said, "No one, by the way, is for amnesty. I and the president of the United States, both of us from border states, came forward with a plan that we thought was comprehensive and workable with the priority being border security, which remains my position."
What remaining issue could spark an insurgency? Iraq. Anti-war Rep. Ron Paul of Texas articulated his anti-war argument in New Hampshire.

Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and current presidential aspirant, may have unwittingly given Larry Craig a vote of confidence for staying in the Senate.

Responding to a question about his private life during last week's GOP debate, Giuliani said, "I certainly haven't lived a perfect life. I am not running as the perfect candidate for president of the United States. I'm running as a human being who has been very successful as a leader and had definable results in a situation in which people thought it was impossible to accomplish these things."

If we delete the presidential reference and substitute one for the Senate, could not the substance of that statement apply to Craig? If so, Giuliani has given grist for hungry rivals. For his words contrast with what was said earlier in the debate.

"We should be bolder about standing up for family," Kansas' Sen. Sam Brownback said. "Family's important for us, and it's important for America ."

"When our guys have problems like this, they leave," Rep. Duncan Hunter of Texas said. "They leave the Senate or they leave the House. When the Democrats have problems like this, they often make them chairmen of their respective committees."

The "family values" opening is available for any Republican ruthless enough to use it. Paging Mitt Romney...

I spent some time yesterday, the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, listening to Boston's right-wing talk-radio station, WRKO-AM (680), and its country-western station, WKLB-FM ( 102.5). Call it opposition research. The results proved partially encouraging.

In the morning, WRKO host Todd Feinburg interviewed peace activist Terry Rockefeller, who lost her sister Laura in the World Trade Center attacks six years ago.

"Terry is an anti-war activist who has visited Iraq, and has made friends with the mother of convicted terrorist Zacarias (sp) Moussaoui," the program description reads.

Feinburg kept things civil, disagreeing with a caller who wanted Rockefeller's voice silenced. He did attempt to press Rockefeller into saying that President Bush lied in getting the nation into the Iraq War, but she would not do so.

Six years ago, hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 Americans died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. What do we remember about that terrible day, and which danger is worse – the prospect of us forgetting the events of 9/11, or the prospect of those events being exploited for political gain? Bob and Susannah discuss in a Sept. 11 ^th cartoon.

How concerned should we be about the way our military behaves in Iraq? And how will the news impact the 2008 presidential election?

Thursday's New York Times contains disturbing news. "The Marine Corps said Wednesday that it had formally reprimanded a two-star general and two colonels for their failure to thoroughly investigate why a group of enlisted men killed 24 Iraqis, including several women and children, in Haditha nearly two years ago," the newspaper reports.

In 2004, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal shocked Americans. "I think the president and the Defense Department have to take some strong action in terms of making people accountable," said Charles Black, a campaign adviser to President Bush. "I imagine they'll do it pretty quickly. If they do, the story won't last a long time."

Could Democrats charge that a pattern of abuse, from Abu Ghraib to Haditha, is occurring in Iraq as a result of the actions of certain members of our military? Perhaps not. In between bouts of spewing invective at the left, Ralph Peters cites statistics that indicate that for the most part, the American military is serving honorably in Iraq.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, anti-war voice of the Republicans, continues to blast his party for its militaristic stances.

The New York Times reported a testy exchange on Iraq between Paul and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Wednesday's GOP debate.

"The American people didn't go in," Paul said. "A few people advising this administration, a small number of people called the neoconservatives hijacked our foreign policy."

"Congressman, we are one nation," Huckabee replied. "We can't be divided. We have to be one nation, under God. That means, if we make a mistake, we make it as a single country: the United States of America, not the divided states of America."

This isn't the first time Paul has drawn ire from his conservative colleagues. Pat Buchanan listed as "the decisive moment of the (Republicans' May) South Carolina debate" a confrontation between Paul and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business." ~ Al Pacino, "The Godfather"

Mitt Romney has shown similar ruthlessness in disposing of his connection with scandal-embroiled Sen. Larry Craig.

"Once again," Pat Buchanan quoted Romney as saying, "we've found people in Washington have not lived up to the level of respect and dignity that we would expect for somebody that gets elected to a position of high influence. Very disappointing. (Craig is) no longer associated with my campaign."

Romney broke a pretty significant bond. As PJB detailed: "Up to this week, Craig was one of only two senators to have come out for Mitt Romney. He headed up the Romney campaign in Idaho. He vouched for Mitt in Congress and the country."

The former Bay State governor thus seems like an anti-George Bush in terms of standing by his lieutenants. Dubya stuck up for ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. "Throughout Gonzales' sometimes rocky tenure, Bush had defended him, accusing his detractors of playing politics," ABC News reported.

Which is the better policy, staying loyal to a supporter or dismissing them when they misstep? Romney will find out as the primaries progress.

The Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group, have criticized Sen. Larry Craig of Minnesota for his recent behavior -- as well as ex-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for his response to the Craig scandal.

Patrick Sammon, president of the LCR, explained why the group wanted Craig to resign: "Innocent people don't plead guilty," he said. "The time to contest these allegations is before and not after."

Yet Sammon simultaneously slammed Romney for the latter's cancellation of his ties to Craig. Romney, Time Magazine reported, "was the first of the Republican presidential candidates to denounce (Craig's) indiscretion in an airport men's room. 'It's disgusting,' Romney said of the man who used to be his Senate liaison."

This displeased Sammon, who said that it displays "the danger of legislating morality, and hypocrisy is revealed ... Mitt Romney is basing his whole campaign on quote-unquote 'family values,' so it's an embarrassment for Mitt Romney and he tried to get away from him as fast as he can."

Sometimes it must be hard to be a gay Republican. Party pundit Ann Coulter casually drops the F-word at public gatherings. Party leadership would call for higher taxes faster than it would for same-sex marriage. Yet I credit LCR with taking a thoughtful and comprehensive position on the Craig scandal.

Republican presidential hopefuls Sen. John McCain and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich both attended a recent gala event for Christians United for Israel (CUFI).

"Speaking of Iraq, (McCain) said, 'The temptation is to wash our hands of a messy situation. To follow this impulse, however, portends catastrophe, for Iraq, Israel, and the United States,'" The American Conservative reported.

Gingrich, meanwhile, awaited the proceedings "with a somewhat bored expression on his face," and didn't exactly impress in his speech, according to TAC.

What role will the Mideast, and the Bible prophecies that inspire some Christian Zionists, play in the 2008 presidential election? TAC did note that the CUFI event attracted 4,500 people, and that the gathering included many powerful televangelists. Is this the support that McCain and Gingrich have been praying for?

The Democratic duo might not want this endorsement.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro offered the following presidential ticket: Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

"In an editorial in Cuba's communist party newspaper, Granma, the ailing dictator called the pairing of the two White House hopefuls 'invincible,' according to an English translation on the paper's Web site," CNN reported.

It's provided material for Ann Coulter to display on her Web site ("The Most Coveted Endorsement After Daily Kos!") and undoubtedly will give plenty of fodder to Coulter's colleagues.

Was there any chance of Fidel endorsing a Republican? I doubt it ... especially if that Republican was Mitt Romney, who displayed a remarkable ignorance regarding Cubans previously.

So who does the GOP trot out to do damage control on the Larry Craig scandal? None other than disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas!

DeLay was confrontational to Matt Lauer Thursday morning, responding to a list of GOP scandals by mentioning several Democrats who ran afoul of the law.

"The double-standard in the media is amazing," DeLay told Lauer. The feeding frenzy, the sharks in the water that's going on right now because of a Republican. Where is the frenzy on Alan Mollohan from West Virginia or William Jefferson from Louisiana?"

"The Hammer" has been a busy guy lately, what with hawking his new book, "No Retreat, No Surrender," and all, but he did make time to prove that, at least for the GOP, the best defense is a good offense.

And it's nice to bring the old guard back into the limelight. Former Sen. Max Cleland fought the good anti-war fight for the Democrats, just as DeLay is showing current Republicans how not to wilt under pressure.

Wednesday marked the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The storm devastated the city of New Orleans, along with many other places on the Gulf Coast. John Edwards used New Orleans to launch his 2008 presidential campaign, while fellow Democratic hopefuls Sen. Chris Dodd and Gov. Bill Richardson criticized the Bush administration's response to Katrina during the South Carolina debate. President Bush spoke in New Orleans on Wednesday and sounded encouraging, but the situation seems anything but. Much of the city is still devastated, and tax breaks tied to Katrina are helping investors develop luxury football condos near the University of Alabama. Bob and Susannah discuss Katrina in the latest "Running Gags"!

Merci to my muse for the idea...

Ben Stein, famous for calling out Ferris Bueller's name in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and for gifting us with Jimmy Kimmel, has a new project: disturbing Darwinists.

On Feb. 12, 2008, Stein will launch his documentary "Expelled," which criticizes Darwin's views and promotes intelligent design.

"Ben realizes that he has been 'Expelled,'" the film website explains, "and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the 'crime' of merely believing that there might be evidence of 'design' in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance."

In addition to working as an actor and game-show host, Stein is a conservative commentator (his articles appear in the American Spectator). Will Republicans eager for red-state '08 support buy a ticket to his film? Perhaps Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain can share a bag of popcorn on opening night, then stop by the Creation Museum in Kentucky the next day for an "intelligently-designed" campaign trip.

"...I am the warrior" ~ Scandal

Make that many warriors. From three religions.

Christiane Amanpour recently profiled Christian, Muslim and Jewish extremists in a three-part, six-hour CNN special, "God's Warriors."

"It's about the religious zealotry that has forged so much of the global political landscape since the end of the Cold War," Newsday reported. "These 'warriors' are fighting over radically divergent views while bound by some similar ones, too."

Among many other topics, Amanpour's reporting covered Bible-quoting Israeli settlers, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, and her native Iran.

Is it fair to compare "warriors" from these three faiths equally? If it is, presidential candidates like Sen. John McCain, ex-Gov. Mitt Romney, and ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani have committed sins through their pandering to evangelical Christians. And so has any candidate who has supported Israel, which probably won't stop settlement-building in the West Bank anytime soon.

Newsday, though, notes, "The title itself is a silly stretch, too, placing under one all-encompassing catchphrase the kids at (Falwell's) Liberty University with the kids at some madrassa in Pakistan learning how to lock and load AK-47s."