By Steve Clemons

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz pleaded for a second chance and offered to dump his gaggle of advisers who followed him to the Bank from the Bush administration.

John Ashcroft has been a governor, a minister, a senator, and Attorney General of the United States. His colleagues at his private consulting firm, call him “General” now — as a nickname and honorific.

I just want to acknowledge he is gone. The 2008 political race will be easier for me to stomach without Falwell’s meddling.

I’ve met Paul Wolfowitz on many occasions and used to see him quite a lot over at the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He has always been cordial to me and to others when I have seen him in public.

Or any of our sons? or daughters? on any side of this incredibly reckless escapade in Iraq? Boston University Professor Andrew J. Bacevich is a brave, thoughtful public intellectual who has tried — in reserved, serious terms — to challenge the legitimacy of the Iraq War.

This will be the big week in finally sorting out the Paul Wolfowitz mess at the World Bank.

(Annie — Oakley the Amazing Weimaraner’s sister — running in the Congressional Cemetery; taken with cell phone camera) The Boston Globe has a fascinating long expose on Rose Kennedy’s life and letters.

My colleague Nir Rosen will have the cover story of the New York Times Magazine this Sunday in a major article titled “The Exodus: An Account of the Iraq Refugee Crisis.

For those checking in on the blog now, I’ll be talking about Wolfowitz and the state of play now at 6:30 pm EST on The Rachel Maddow Show. It’s been quiet today — but Tuesday is the new deadline for Wolfowitz to make his case.

Greetings folks — a lot going on today. First, by close of business today, we will know the broader character and substance of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz’s defense. I will post on that this afternoon. I also have some comments about this Posada trial fiasco that will be up later today.