One of the traditions that The Washington Note has established is that I’m happy to meet aspiring bloggers as well as policy and political junkies — and of course TWN loyal readers — at cool coffee shops (or pubs or saloons as the case may be) on my trips. Nothing too organized.

I was able to break away from my obsessive interest in the Cheney hunting accident and tax evasion scandal to hear my colleague, Nir Rosen. speak about Iraq’s unacknowledged but significantly expanding civil war.

Paul Hackett had a Howard Dean-like organically grown following out there that saw his type of candidacy as the sort that would transform the sclerotic Democratic Party into something more real and relevant to progressives. Unfortunately, he’s announced that he’s out of the race.

I know it’s a big story, but I don’t like it. Everyone wants to talk about who Cheney shot, why he shot him, what it ALL means. . .

An important and provocative report has just been published that suggests that Iran was the target of much of Valerie Plame’s covert investigative work and that outing her identity had far worse consequences than has thus far been acknowledged.

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.