"Now I get to go back to do whatever it is that I do."

Iraq

The New York Times editorial page, which has been no friend to the flegdling constitutional process in Iraq, strikes a slightly more optimistic note today:

That hope has come close to extinction many times. But today it seems a little more substantial.

Just days ahead of Saturday's vital constitutional referendum, representatives of rival religious and ethnic communities in Iraq hammered out their most significant political compromise. With American diplomatic prodding, the dominant Shiite and Kurdish parties agreed with a section of the Sunni Arab leadership on changes that should make it easier for Sunni voters to accept a badly flawed draft constitution because they offer assurances that it can be drastically amended a few months later.

The New York Times reports on something first covered in yesterday's USA Today:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - A review by former intelligence officers has concluded that the Bush administration "apparently paid little or no attention" to prewar assessments by the Central Intelligence Agency that warned of major cultural and political obstacles to stability in postwar Iraq.

I have not had the chance to read the translated version of the al Qaeda letter to Zarqawi, but it is available as a .pdf on the DNI website.

2006

"Democrats are trying to be ready if, in fact, an anti-incumbent, 1994-style political wave hits," writes Robin Toner in the New York Times. However, they face an uphill battle.

One political mass the Dems should pursue are disaffected conservative intellectuals, like The Cunning Realist.

Miers and conservatives (added at Noon Eastern)

Yes, George and Company are in a helluva' mess (not even counting Fitzgerald and Iraq.) Here is David Frum's blog on NRO yesterday:

This nomination is an important test of the principles and integrity of the American conservative community. The web creates new opportunities for those of us care about politics to reach out to one another directly - and communicate our deeply felt convictions to our leaders, both when we agree with them and when we must dissent.

If conservatives are worried about their movement's principles and integrity, then the administration has misplayed completely their hand/political capital. Frum has a petition that begins:

WE ARE REPUBLICANS AND CONSERVATIVES who supported the election of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Today, we respectfully urge that the nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court be withdrawn.

As for the headline, this blog is in transition and I think a George Plimpton / Simpsons' reference captures that nicely.