His Place in Bartlett's

"We are waiting for the gas to pass." New York Mayor Michael Bloomgerg on the odor hanging over Manhattan. (CBS2)

Kids, And Presidents, Say the Darndest Things

Top Ten Bushisms as determined by word geeks aided by the Global Language Monitor:

1. 'I'm the Decider.' 'I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense.' April 18, in response to a question from CNN's Ed Henry.

2. 'I use The Google,' in reference to the popular search engine. October 24th. Interview with Maria Bartiromo of CNBC.

3. 'It was not always certain that the U.S. and America would have a close relationship.' June 29.

4. 'I've got an ek-a-lec-tic reading list.' August 29 interview with NBC's Brian Williams.

5. 'The only way we can win is to leave before the job is done.' Nov. 24 (Greely, Colo.)

6. 'Stay the course.' On numerous occasions.

7. 'When the final history is written on Iraq, it will look just like a comma.' Sept. 24. Interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

8. 'The Congress was right to renew the Terrorist Act.' In reference to the Patriot Act. Sept. 7 (Washington)

9. 'I want to be a war president; no president wants to be a war president.' Oct. 26. (Des Moines)

10. 'The fiscal year that ended on February the 30th.' The government fiscal year ends Sept. 30; Oct. 11 (Washington)"

Iraq Plans -- From the Left and Right

Senate Committee Chairmen will outline their plans to keep watch over the Iraq War -- a day before President Bush unveils his new strategy in Iraq.

Chairmen of Senate oversight committees will announce their plans for hearings Tuesday -- President Bush announces his plans Wednesday night at 9:00 pm EST in a televised address to the nation. (CNN)

Bush Goes Postal

President Bush is looking for terrorists -- in your mail box


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George "Armstrong Custer" Bush

History repeats itself.

Friday's Political News Roundup

What a Party

Former Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe has a new book coming out with a unique insider's view of politics. Like that time he took a vacation with the Clintons. From CBS:

"He had an insider's look at the Clintons' marriage during the Monica Lewinsky scandal _ going along on a chilly Clinton family vacation to Utah a month after the impeachment vote and watching Mrs. Clinton silently click through channel after channel reporting on her husband's infidelities before settling on ESPN. He wrote that the president described the period to him as 'an absolute living hell.'"

But was she watching the Yankees or the Mets? (CBS News)

Knowing Then, What They Know Now

If they knew then what they know now, only 15 Senators say they'd still vote for the Iraq War. ABC News called every Senator who voted for the war.

Revelations of poor intelligence, the lack of WMDs and an "imminent threat" to the US, and the lack of a clear strategy changed enough minds to have turned around the outcome if the war were voted on today.

Others hemmed and hawed when asked, and some dodged the question or phone calls all together. But in the end, only these 15 Senators said they'd still vote for the Iraq War:

1. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.
2. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
3. Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn.
4. Former Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
5. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
6. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
7. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
8. Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind.
9. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.
10. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.
11. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
12. former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
13. former Sen. George Allen, R-Va.
14. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho
15. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho

You can click here to let ABC know how you'd vote if you were a Senator. (ABC)

100 Hour Countdown: Pork on the Chopping Block

The US House takes up a plan Friday to ban "earmarks" -- the practice of inserting anonymous pet projects in spending bills. The idea is to send federal money back to the home district in an attempt to buy votes -- or benefit a lobbyist or special interest. The whole process is called "pork barrel spending."

Congress slipped in $71.77 billion for 15,832 earmarks last year. (Bloomberg via Yahoo!)

100 Hour Countdown: Lobbyist Gifts Banned

The US House Thursday voted to ban lawmkers from accepting rides on corporate jets, as well as other gifts and meals from lobbyists.

The measure passed the House 430-1.

Rep Dan Burton (R-IN) (pictured) was the only Congressman to vote against the plan. (Bloomberg via Yahoo!)

GOP's Razor Thin Victories

Democrats took control of Congress Thursday -- and Congressional Quarterly offers up a new talking point for the GOP: "It coulda been worse." From CQ:

"Of the 202 Republicans sworn in Thursday as members of 110th Congress, 15 maintained GOP control of their seats by margins of just 3 percentage points or less. On the other side of the aisle, just two of the 233 members of the new Democratic majority were winners of contests in which they retained their party’s control by similarly razor-thin margins."

CQ has a breakdown of the 15 races that will be top targets in 2008. (CQ via PoliticalWire.com)

...And Cigarettes Don't Cause Cancer

A new report accuses ExxonMobil of using big tobacco's tactics to manufacture uncertainity about global climate change.

Remember how big tobacco kept arguing for years that smoking had no link to lung cancer? The Union of Concerned Scientists is out with a report detailing how ExxonMobil is doing the same thing with claims that global climate change isn't happening. From the UCS website:

"Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to "Manufacture Uncertainty" on Climate Change details how the oil company, like the tobacco industry in previous decades, has

• raised doubts about even the most indisputable scientific evidence
• funded an array of front organizations to create the appearance of a broad platform for a tight-knit group of vocal climate change contrarians who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings
• attempted to portray its opposition to action as a positive quest for "sound science" rather than business self-interest
• used its access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming"

But should that camel be smoking around the gas pumps?

Cheney Sent Packing

Vice President Dick Cheney has lost his cushy office in the US Capitol. The power shift to the Democratic Party in the November election forced him to surrender his digs to Rep Charles Rangel (D-NY).

The Veep got an office at the Capitol in his job as President of the Senate.

Rep Rangel wrangled the office as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee -- perhaps the most powerful committee in the House. Enough clout, at least, to evict a Vice President. (NY Post)

So That's Why My Christmas Cards were Missing

President Bush has declared he has the authority to open your mail.

While signing a postal reform bill into law on December 20, the President added one of his beloved "signing statements" asserting Presidential priviledge to order any American's mail opened and read.

Legal experts say the signing statement is contrary to current postal law and contradicts the very bill he signed into law.

But I've got a great new excuse when creditors call looking for an overdue bill! (Mercury News)

Drugged Out, Paranoid Chief Justice

Late Chief Justice William Rehnquist suffered from paranoid delusions and drug dependence during the early 1980s.

The findings come from his recently released FBI file. Legal Times got hold of it through a Freedom of Information Act Request.

The files show Mr Rehnquist was placed on the painkiller Placidyl in the 1970s for back pain. The drug is only supposed to be used for a few days. But Mr Rehnquist continued taking the drug for roughly a decade. That long term usage led to slurred speech. He quit the drug suddenly, triggering paranoid delusions.

The 1,561 page FBI file says Mr Rehnquist in 1981 believed the CIA was watching him and was convinced people were listening to him ouside his door.

And people complain about "activist" judges. (Legal Times)

Wednesday's Top Political Stories

Political Losses

Remembering some of the political legends -- and lesser knowns -- who we lost in 2006.