McCain -- Maverick or Mimic?

Universally hailed as a hero, John McCain is often given a free pass on his personal background by virtue of his POW status...but with his presidential nomination presumably sealed, is it time to remove his veil and our kid gloves?

How many voters realize that the affable, acceptable driver of the "Straight-Talk Express" has a sketchy political record, a sordid private life and an upbringing that mirrors the despised executive that he seeks to replace?

We Won the War -- We Have Lost the Peace

Mission Accomplished? Yes, actually.

It's been 50 months since the infamous photo-op, codpiece and macho rhetoric from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, and history has seen that moment turn from a shining image of Neocon triumph into a running joke and haunting symbol of Bushie bravado and incompetence. Countless cartoons and commentaries have skewered the stunt, while modern-day-Murrow, Keith Olberman, signs off each Countdown broadcast with a count-up of days since the ill-fated proclamation.

Are these endless liberal lampoons fair? Do they rally support or cast the party as a vulture more interested in picking at a corpse than setting things right?

The more accurate and embraceable way to decry the handling of Iraq is to clearly lay full blame where it belongs: at the foot of the architects of a post-Saddam Iraq. Get your bumper stickers. Circulate the talking points. Get all candidates on message. Repeat after me:

"WE WON THE WAR -- WE HAVE LOST THE PEACE."

Threat From Without...or Within?

Who presents a greater threat to American society - international terrorists, or the current caretakers of the federal government?

The recent United Kingdom bombing buffoonery provided further evidence that the rhetorical bark of the global jihad may be worse than its operational ability to bite. Conversely, President Bush's liberation of Scooter Libby confirmed that there are no legal or ethical boundaries that this administration will not cross to satisfy its own ends.

Is the War on Terror more dangerous than the terrorists? Is Al Qaeda merely a straw man cast as a formidable foe in order to cow the masses and keep neo-cons in power?