More and more, President Bush's strategy in Iraq resembles an M.C. Escher illustration. Like the hands drawing each other or the elegant depiction of stairways that cannot possibly meet, the military progress of the U.S. surge is producing an image of a future Iraq that, while glorious to behold, can never be built. The very […]

Sounding more like Bill O'Reilly or Bill Donahue than the leader of the world's one billion Catholic faithful, Pope Benedict XVI today issued a stinging critique of atheism. In the encyclical titled Saved by Hope, the Pope assigned atheism responsibility for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in human history. […]

Over at the conservative Weekly Standard, there is despair and consternation at the picture of the Republican Party presented at last night's CNN/YouTube debate. While one column feared the "vaguely threatening parade" of the assembled GOP White House hopefuls, editor and Fox News commentator Fred Barnes lamented a debate that was "mortifying to the candidates." […]

In last night's Republican CNN/YouTube debate, Rudy Giuliani provided Americans with a rare moment of candor about the Bible and himself. Asked if every word of the Bible was literally true, Giuliani replied that much of it was "allegorical." Given his repeated distortions, exaggerations and outright falsehoods, Giuliani could have been describing his own campaign. […]

Rudy Giuliani has a new best friend. With Mitt Romney holding twin leads in Iowa and New Hampshire and Rudy's former wingman Bernard Kerik now under indictment, Giuliani's position as the national GOP presidential front-runner seemed increasingly precarious. Enter former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, whose surge in Iowa is just what the doctor ordered. The […]

The visit of Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore to the Bush White House Monday constituted one of the more surreal moments in recent Washington memory. While Gore was quick to praise his campaign 2000 opponent ("He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation"), Bush […]

When it comes to the demographic make-up of his future cabinet, Republican White House hopeful and legendary flip-flopper Mitt Romney proved he can completely reverse his position in the span of just a single day. Appearing on CNN's Situation Room Monday, Romney told Wolf Blitzer he rejected the use of quotas in appointing cabinet members. […]

Washington is abuzz with the news that Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott will resign by the end of the year. Speculation abounds regarding the motivation for the Mississippi Senator's sudden departure as well as what comes next. (Rumors of health problems and an affair with the bastard love child of one of Strom Thurmond's bastard […]

As Condoleezza Rice prepares to host the Middle East summit in Annapolis this week, her State Department has issued an updated historical timeline of American efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The timeline is a fascinating document both for what it reveals and what it leaves out. The rise of Hamas and its election victories […]

This week, Republican White House hopeful John McCain denounced George W. Bush's unprecedented use of presidential signing statements. As well he should. After all, it was President Bush's December 30, 2005 signing statement on McCain's amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act that made waterboarding and other acts of torture the continuing policy of the United […]