The McCain train is being derailed by the lack of funds from potential donors. The reason? How closely he is allied with Bush on Iraq, the defense of Iraq, and keeping all options open when it comes to the fight on terrerism. Plus immigration.

But, the reason for the lack of funds is not the important stuff when it comes to John McCain.

The important stuff is that without money, the campaign cannot continue. The straight-talk express will run into a brick wall. There are implications there for the war on Iraq.

Today, two years or so after the actual event, I learned that my former stepson has died in Afghanistan, fighting a war that is justified, but ignored because of Iraq.

As you can tell, I wasn't close to him through the relatively short marriage, but he was an American warrior and he should be honored in a place outside of the obligatory Arlington National Cemetery sites and those devoted to Navy Seals.

He represented the best that America offers and was sacrificed in a war run by idiots.

All day at work, the constant Internet reporting on the elections talked about how those Democrats fortunate enough to have been elected in red states will be conservative. Conservative enough, even, so that my good friend George II thought that he would be able to work with the new Congress because they were so conservative.

Even Tony Snow talked about Blue Dogs running away from the Speaker.

Well, I've thought about it today a lot. And I've concluded I am a Conservative.

Somewhere, it is written that I'm old skool. For example, I was an active watcher of the fall of Richard Nixon, resigning to avoid impeachment. Go back to those times a minute for a quick review:

Richard Nixon was almost impeached because his campaign committee had an unreported campaign slush fund, breaking campaign finance laws while playing tricks on Democratic candidates, and covering it up.

How incredibly quaint. What America, through our representatives, would not tolerate back then. The comparison is below the fold...

My father was an attorney in my hometown of 50,000. Everyone in town knew him and most respected him. Certainly, if you got into trouble, you wanted him on your side.

Because he was good.

My father defended a lot of guilty people. Not all went to a trial, of course, but he worked with people who were guilty of crimes. I asked him why he defended people he knew were guilty. The answer is below the fold.

President Bush today went to the capital to persuade Republicans that his Terror Package for interrogations needs to be passed into law. After all, there should be no legal ambiguities about us water boarding our detainees.

Unfortunately, the Senate committee, including three Republicans, thought the President's plan was full of water (or something) and soundly rejected the plan by a 15 to 9 vote.

The rhetoric was all the same by the White House, however. How they should proceed is below the fold...

In deference to and extending "And Then They Fight You," we have found the first broadside into the netroots ranks. Casually surfing the political web sites and new articles, we find that the lowly bloggers have been elevated into one of the most feared groups of the conservative movement. In fact, we're so important that we've been labeled as "out of the mainstream," that we have a "radical position on the war on terror," and we have blogs that "promote their own extreme measures and ideologies."

And where is the attack coming from? Why, those nice researchers over at GOP.com - The web site for the Republican National Committee. Personally, I think after not getting any name recognition from their studies, they have decided to talk a threat into existence. And talk they did. The heading of the "research" title to go see: "WHO IS MARKOS MOULITSAS ZUNIGA? A Partisan 'Nutroot' Who Turned His Hate-Filled Blog Daily Kos Into A Leadership Post In The Democrat Party." No kidding. The link is below the fold...

Eating breakfast the day after the SOTU I picked up the latest issue of Newsweek and started reading. My favorite section is 'Perspectives' and sitting right at the top of the page was the following quote:

"You can't have one foot in terror and the other in politics."

I was surprised at the perfect indictment of the SOTU address so soon after the speech. And then I was surprised again when I read the attribution of the quote. Check it out below the fold...

In an earlier commentary on a Daily Kos diary on the old Supreme Court nomination rules changing I noted that there were only three scenarios facing the Democrats (and Republicans, of course) for the selection that President Bush makes. From the comments and the notes below the fold: