In her rearview mirror, in order, are Old Town Alexandria resident and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner ("Though he's still an unknown across most of the country, the self-made gazillionaire won't have problems buying his way onto the backstretch."), Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. ("He has already acknowledged Hillary as the one to beat and is formulating a strategy to do just that.") and finally former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
LAND OF OZ
Suffice it to say, Pakistan is not Kansas.
Security concerns and challenges abounded throughout President Bush's journey into the belly of the terrorist beast, with wary eyes cast around every corner Bush turned - right up until his presidential luggage was loaded aboard Air Force One for his return flight to Washington.
Consider the official White House pool report of the departure: "If anything had happened to Air Force One, the congressional inquiry would have opened with this question: 'Now where did those luggage trucks with the tin trinkets hanging off the fenders, mirrors and bumpers, and the circus tents for covers over the Noah's Ark-like bows erected atop the cabs, lighted inside with a hot red glow, come from? Who hired those guys?'"
FULL CIRCLE
"We need Saddam (Hussein) or somebody like Saddam back in that country. It's been held together by somebody like him for the last 300 years, and we're not going to do it by democracy." - Former CIA field officer Bob Baer on controlling the increasing unrest among opposing factions in Iraq, on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."
DRIFTING RIGHT
More proof the National Black Republican Association (NBRA) is gaining power is seen in the pages of its first issue of the Black Republican magazine, which highlights the increasing role of black Republicans in American politics and the GOP.
Meanwhile, more than 40 NBRA members attended a recent Grassroots Activist Campaign School conducted by the Leadership Institute in Arlington. That came on the heels of the NBRA hosting its Celebration of Pioneers Dinner, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Booker T. Washington and the 150th anniversary of the first Republican Party convention.
Guests on hand included Gloria Jackson, great-granddaughter of Washington, and Florida Republican senatorial candidate Rep. Katherine Harris, who read a greeting from President Bush.
TOOK EVERYTHING
A motion for contempt has been filed by the National Rifle Association against New Orleans and its mayor, C. Ray Nagin, for failure to comply with a temporary restraining order to end the city's "illegal" gun confiscations.
The motion includes an order that all seized firearms must immediately be returned to their rightful owners.
"With looters, rapists and other thugs running rampant in New Orleans, Ray Nagin issued an order to disarm all law-abiding citizens," Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, recalled of the wake of Hurricane Katrina. "With no law enforcement and 911 available, he left the victims vulnerable by stripping away their only means of defending themselves and their loved ones."
BROKE-BAD OSCAR
There are some who will say that I'm narrow,
But I feel from the depths of my marrow:
The Best Actor award
Should be held in regard
And not go to a gay caballero.
- F.R. Duplantier