I'm not really sure I fully understand how the GOP leadership is internally justifying its current push for timetables (a strategy that, if you'll recall, they decried pretty vehemently and derisively a week ago). Can anyone explain that to me?

Tonight's Republican debate was phenomenal. Sadly, MSNBC is being as draconian about the footage of this one as they were about the footage of the Democrats' debate a week ago, so if you missed it, you're probably out of luck. But be sure to check out Wonkette's liveblog (Part I, Part II). It's terrific.

Update: The Daily Show's coverage (aired on May 7) is also excellent.

Happy anniversary.

Who doesn't love to see Fox News looking stupid?

Tom Tomorrow compiles a sort of greatest-hits list of pre-war Republican talking points. I think my favorite is a Bill O'Reilly:

"I will bet you the best dinner in the Gaslight District [sic] of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week." (January 29, 2003)

Prescient.

If you have a few free minutes, I'd highly recommend Wonkette's liveblog of tonight's debate (Part I, Part II).

Chris Cilizza knows the difference between a gantlet and a gauntlet, goddammit, and he'd like to make sure that you know that Sam Waterston doesn't:

Actor Sam Waterston praised the personal attributes of "Law and Order" co-star Fred Thompson but warned that if the former Tennessee Senator enters the Republican presidential field he will be forced to run the "gauntlet" of conservative interest groups to win the nomination.

Don't get me wrong, I understand where he's coming from. But come on, to call it out like that in the middle of the paragraph? That's cold.

Henry Waxman's Tillman/Lynch hearing this afternoon was chock-friggin'-full of quotable indignation. Nancy Pelosi's blog has clips.

[And a Kossack reminds us that it's only six more days until the anniversary of Mission Accomplished.]

(Thanks to Atrios.)

This is extraordinarily fishy, even given the already-fishy context (quoting The Hill, by way of TPM):

Former White House Counsel Harriet Miers discussed firing ex-U.S. Attorney Debra Yang, who was leading an investigation into lucrative ties between Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and a lobbying firm before she left her government post voluntarily last fall, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) charged in a hearing last week.

Yang resigned last October, months before Democrats began reviewing the Justice Department’s decision to fire eight other federal prosecutors. According to a report in the American Lawyer, she was lured away by a $1.5 million-plus offer to become a partner* at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, which is defending Lewis in the probe.

And Yang isn't wasn't even one of the scandal-ridden ones!

* - Model Rule 1.10, anyone? (Finally, those Ethics classes pay off!)

An intriguing suggestion from an Army sergeant in Afghanistan:

When we honor the flag by saluting it, we are honoring what it stands for. We honor freedom, the people it represents and a way of life.

Isn’t it time our flag saluted back when a person makes the ultimate sacrifice? Shouldn’t the flag, which represents our society, tip its hat when someone dies to ensure it will fly another day?

If the flags on our [forward operating bases] were lowered for just one day after the death of a servicemember, it would show the people who knew the person that society cared, the American people care.

Seems a perfectly valid point.

(Thanks to AMERICAblog for the link.)

Why mascots don't make particularly good memorial service attendees:

The pros and cons of the top twenty Democratic presidential candidates, courtesy of regular McSweeney's contributor John Moe.