Bush or the Dems: Who's Relevant?  [HuffPo]     At yesterday's press conference, President Bush insisted that he is still "relevant." Normally, it's an immutable law of politics that if you have to say you're relevant, you're not (shades of Clinton circa 1995). But in Bush's case, his role as the primary Decider on the war in Iraq is keeping him tragically relevant -- in the same way that the driver of a bus careening toward the edge of cliff is extremely relevant to his passengers.

 
The Fiery Furnace of the GOP Debate  [Politico]     After two weeks of sparring from afar, the top GOP presidential candidates took their attacks up close Sunday, using the first round of their debate here to question one another’s conservative credentials.  Even after the opening salvos, the bulk of the time at the forum – aired by Fox News – was spent on four-way fireworks among Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson.  Gradually, they shifted their attention away from one another and onto a common foe, Sen. Hillary Clinton, but it was the scrapping among themselves that summed up the increasingly-heated Republican primary race.
 

Bob Kerrey Urges Dems to Take on Imus  [Firedoglake]     Democrat Bob Kerrey, former Nebraska Senator and current President of the New School in New York City, has re-defined how Democratic Presidential candidates might accumulate what he cleverly calls “courage points:”  In short, Imus adds a lot to the American political debate. He made a nontrivial, nonfatal mistake — one for which he apologized. He and his listenership should not be indefinitely ostracized as a result.  ... Really?

 
Generation Q: Tom Thinks We're Politically Lazy  [NYT]     I just spent the past week visiting several colleges — Auburn, the University of Mississippi, Lake Forest and Williams — and I can report that the more I am around this generation of college students, the more I am both baffled and impressed.  I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.