By Steve Clemons

I just spent an hour on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, and I was impressed by the quality of Brian’s thinking, analysis, and understanding of the major political issues of the day.

George Allen, former Governor of Virginia and of course now Senator, wants to run for the presidency, but also has to keep his Senate seat in the 2006 race. Former Navy Secretary James Webb is going to try and take that seat away from him.

The government was always right and never apologized; Any dissent was suppressed, ridiculed, banned or worse; Secret prisons were denied and never acknowledged or spoken about; The torture of captives was condoned; State incarceration was not subject to the checks and balances of a legal system; Economic plans, like for oil, were established/determined in closed…

Hopefully, this will not become more of a tragedy than it is — but news out that Vice President Cheney just accidentally shot someone on a hunting trip. — Steve Clemons Ed Note: Hat tip to The Agonist.

I just posted this piece regarding John Bolton’s fortress strategy against the New York Times‘ UN-watcher Warren Hoge. There is something wrong when the recess-appointed Bolton thinks its great to speak at the Jesse Helms Center but won’t give the time of day to the New York Times.

Congressional Research Service Director Daniel Mulhollan has his key expert on separation of powers and Congress’s legislative prerogatives vis-a-vis the Executive and Judicial Branches, Louis Fisher, in his cross-hairs. He needs to stand down.

I am a bit sick to my stomach right now, taking the train from New York to D.C. and just got off the phone with a retired general and just prior to that one of the more senior military strategists in the country who happens to have deep Southern roots.

British author Philippe Sands has a fascinating and important new book out, Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules — From FDR’s Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush’s Illegal War. Interestingly, the book jumped from 15,052 on Amazon’s sales rank to 3,471 today.

TWN has posted a number of items about the depiction of John McCain in the Sundance Festival award-winning film by Eugene Jarecki, Why We Fight.

Great day in New York today, but very cold. Thanks to the TWN readers I met in Soho. Tonight. . .8:34 p.m., on the dot. Air America Radio Majority Report‘s Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder and I are going to ‘catch up’ in their studio.