Please do it.

Senate Democrats may force Republicans into a real filibuster over the latest Iraq funding bill. Good for them. I don't much care for the filibuster as a tool. At some point, legislative bodies need to vote on important questions.

This attempt would be dumb, even by the standards of Leader Reid. It's hard to imagine that even someone as dense as he is would believe what he said in the story.

Have we won in Iraq?

Greyhawk thinks so.

'08 Analysis

Stuart Rothenberg takes a look at what the '08 election may portend in the House of Representatives. He knows of what he speaks.

By the way, lots of good stuff at RCP today.

More No News Is Good News

This is starting to get routine. Ralph Peters is the latest to note a trend in the reporting on Iraq.

Memorials

Duncan Anderson of The American Thinker makes a great point in this column about our modern memorials. War memorials should feature soldiers with guns not just lists of names.

Sunday Blogging

So exciting. What lesson will Republicans take from last Tuesday's election losses? I'll be interested to find out.

No News Is Good News

Rich Galen notes some big news in the NY Times.

Way To Go, Joe

Sen. Lieberman lays into his own party. Well said.

Busy Day

I don't think that I'll be posting much of anything today - like it's a problem.

Stupid Government Tricks

Thanks in no small part to our own Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-6), internet gambling was largely banned last year. An effort is underway to reverse that asinine decision. The "we know better than you" crowd is revving up to stop a fairly commonsense bill sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). I don't think that the ban is going anywhere any time soon.

Crazy Man Endorses Giuliani

Pat Robertson is now in Rudy G's camp. I think that P-Rob's a loon, but his endorsement is gold in Republican nomination races: 1988-Bush; 1996-Dole; 2000-Bush. We'll see if the trend continues.

Shhhh...

More good news from Iraq. I wonder if this will make front page news like the most recent bad news did? Ahhh, who am I kidding?

Election Recap

Republicans did not hold on. If I may pat myself on the back, that 18.5 o/u for Repubs in the Senate looks pretty damn good with the GOP coming in at 19 out of 40.

So Dems have (as of now) picked up 4 seats in each house. It looked as though they would do better than that a few weeks ago. I think that the abusive driver fees didn't help them as much as they had hoped. Too bad Gov Kaine had to amend the trans. bill to exclude non-residents. Further, several Repub districts in each house trended more traditionally than seemed likely a few weeks ago.

It's still a significant win for Kaine and the Dems. Congrats. January in Richmond may be more interesting now.

GOP Holding On?

Polling Day

You have only about 3 1/2 hours left to vote here in Virginia. Get out there and do your duty.

Wow

Andrew Bacevich writes about the dumbest thing I've read in a while. I can't decide whether the question begging or the vague platitudinal blather is the worst of it.

Tuesday's Elections

Looks like we're gonna have a changing of the guard in Virginia's Senate. Republicans hold 23 out of 40 seats now. I'd say that their over-under for January is 18.5. I'm more inclined to support Republicans than Democrats, but I'm not so sure that this outcome would be all that bad. Having the General Assembly split during redistricting is probably a good thing.

I shouldn't be so quick to assume that the GOP will assume minority status in the Senate. If several of their districts work out the way you would normally expect, the Reps may be able to hold on. We'll know soon enough.

Well Said

J. R. Dunn of the estimable American Thinker pens a column on torture for RCP. Pretty well spot on, I'd say.

Breaking Good News

It looks as though at least two of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are going to act like grownups after all. Good for them. I'll admit that may be treating Sen. Feinstein unfairly - but not Sen. Schumer.

More on Iraq

The WaPo reports on the decreased violence in Iraq - but notes some less hopeful items as well. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi wants to change the country's electoral system. He may have a very good idea - it's obviously hard for me to say. I do wonder if his very poor showing in the 2005 election has anything to do with his desire to change the rules.