This is the high water mark...

...for Sarah Palin. Her numbers will never again be this good. Look for a slow and steady erosion in support from even her most loyal fans as this drama progresses. The prime beneficiary of all this should be Mike Huckabee. He will now become the undisputed standard-bearer for the Religious Right. I'd still bet on None of the Above for the Republican nomination in 2012, but for now there are four serious candidates: Huckabee, Romney, Gingrich, and Pawlenty.

Iran is obtaining confessions...

...from political prisoners by the use of torture, according to an article today in the New York Times. Dick Cheney must feel so proud.

William Kristol seems like a nice man...

...and someone I'd like to have a non-alcoholic beer with. I'm sure he'd be very interesting to talk to; he's highly intelligent and has a PhD from Harvard. He's also the son of two famous intellectuals, Irving Kristol and Gertrude Himmelfarb (bad names) and grew up in Manhattan. You can see him on Fox News Sunday each week or read his magazine, The Weekly Standard. Kristol is exactly what the British had in mind when they coined the term Chattering Class.

It's hard to picture Kristol outside of the Washington-New York-Cambridge axis, though. It seems that whatever he knows of the rest of the country he's gleaned from books or TV. I doubt if he has much direct experience beyond the elite circles in which he travels. In fact, I'd bet that he knows as much about life in Taiwan as he does about real life in America. And not only has he probably never held a real job, but I wonder if he's ever known or talked to anyone who has. His view of the world is so circumscribed, you have to ask yourself who he does talk to, besides people like Charles Krauthammer and Robert Kagan. In a different era, George Wallace would have called him an "ivory tower, pointy-headed intellectual."

Some of the highlights of Kristol's career have been managing Alan Keyes's Senate campaign in Maryland, serving as Vice President Dan Quayle's chief of staff, and most recently as one of Sarah Palin's biggest boosters. He may have had more to do with her rise on the national scene than anyone else. Especially after Palin's latest blow-up, how would you like to have a resume like that? But a better question is, why is anyone still listening to Bill Kristol?

Colin Powell is mildly critical...

...of President Obama in an interview airing Sunday on CNN. Could the former secretary of state be mulling a White House run in 2012? I doubt it, but the Republican field is wide open and the color barrier has now been breached. He'd certainly be the front-runner if he entered the race. But about that war in Iraq...

Harold "Booty" Lange died...

...at age 87 of natural causes on Monday, June 29. Never heard of him? Me neither. His obituary was in the Chicago Tribune today and apparently he was quite accomplished at horseshoes. He was also a lifelong resident of Elgin, Illinois; a World War II veteran; a retired tool-and-die maker (whatever that is); and was married for 62 years and had two daughters, two grandchildren and a great-grandson. Sounds like a good life.

But what interests me is that nickname, "Booty." The article says that it was "given to him by his mother, who dressed him in booties as a baby." Really. Mr. Lange was born in 1921. He had 87 years to shake that nickname and chose not to. He must have liked it, although I can't imagine why. It's not exactly Butch or Rocky. I've heard of people giving nicknames to their newborns, but I always thought it was an odd practice. Why not just give him that name in the first place? What's the point in naming him Harold if you don't intend to call him that? Was he named after some rich uncle in the hope of inheriting some money? Did he ever go by Harold? Do you think he ever signed his name H. Booty Lange? Would he even look up if someone called him Harold? And what about his wife? Did she call him "Booty?" I can just hear her yelling to him, "Hey Booty, what do you want to drink with your dinner?" Imagine hearing that for 62 years. Do you think she called him "Booty" in the heat of passion? Was he Uncle "Booty" to his nieces and nephews, as in "I wonder if Uncle Booty will be dressing up as Santa Claus this year?" And why "Booty?" I assume his mother put diapers on him as well, maybe a bonnet once in a while. I guess it could have been worse.

Oh well. He's dead now. I'll never have the chance to ask him those questions. I could try and track down his daughters, though.

Sarah Palin is back in the news...

...again, after Todd Perdum's piece in Vanity Fair attracted so much attention this week. It's mostly inside baseball between Steve Schmidt and Bill Kristol, but I can't help giving some unsolicited advice to Kristol and the rest of Palin's supporters. Do yourselves a favor and Let-Her-Go. She will never be president--never. Kristol, as you may recall, was Dan Quayle's chief of staff. Now he's one of Palin's biggest boosters. How does this guy have any credibility left?

There are plenty of other conservatives in the country with better qualifications and less baggage. Start grooming them; you have almost four years.

Everyone else is kicking Mark Sanford...

...right now, but I'd like to come to his defense. I only know what I've read on the Internet and seen on TV, but that's never stopped me from having an opinion before. And my opinion is that the guy is genuinely, head-over-heels in love with this woman from Argentina. And at the same time, he's probably fallen out of love with his wife. News flash: It happens. And that's why I think he's probably mistaken in going back to his wife. I just don't see it working. It's over. In fact, it's probably been over for a while. My guess is that all the tears at the press conference weren't for his marriage but for all the obstacles in the way of his new relationship. And they're formidable. First of all, they live on different continents--in different hemispheres, no less. (Andy Borowitz had a funny piece in The Huffington Post about this. He had John Ensign asking Sanford, "Why would you go all the way to Argentina when there's perfectly good tail on your staff?") Secondly, they both have kids that I assume they're devoted to. And third, until recently they both had careers. But Sanford seems like a smart guy and I'm sure he'll land on his feet professionally. He has an MBA, worked for Goldman in New York, and has to have a great Rolodex. But the rest of it is difficult. So Sanford has been trying to break it off but he can't because he's in love. So he's going to try to patch things up with his wife but it's probably too late. If I knew Sanford, I'd tell him to give up on Jenny and politics and start anew. Either move to Argentina or have his girlfriend move up to South Carolina. He's 49; it's not too late to start a new life. His boys will survive.