Mother of Mercy ...

MANIFESTO

Is this the end of Rudy?

If so, it couldn't happen to a more slimy guy. If it's not, it might be time for the republic to fold up its tents.

OK, I'll say it...

SPORTING GOODS

I would trade Ellsbury, Lester, and a couple other prospects for Santana, if they could complete the deal by signing him to a long term deal. Right now there seems to be a divide on the issue among Sox fans; but I guess you'd only consider it a divide in a way that GWB's approval rating is a "divide." Because on the Globe it was 80-20 saying no way do the Sox give up Ellsbury.

The way I see it, if you have the chance to score a surefire hall of fame pitcher for the low price of $120M, a guy who will probably be a #3 starter for his career, a centerfielder with all-star potential, and a couple prospects, you have to do it. And you don't look back.

If Hanley Ramirez came up for 6 weeks in 2005 and got to play nearly every day, the fans would have fallen for him like they have Jacoby, and would have screamed bloody murder when he was traded for Beckett. How'd that work out? Yeah having Ramirez around would be nice, but...well, Josh Beckett. I love Ellsbury and would love to not trade him. But if that's the dealbreaker, so be it.

Then there's the idea of the Sox pitching prospects. How many pitching prospects actually work out? Remember when the Sox traded Carl Pavano and Brian Rose, the Sox pitching "gems" for Pedro? Remember all the Mets "can't miss" pitchers over the last 15 years, all of whom have bombed. Well, except one, but that's a sore subject that I won't mention further. Lester is a great story, and has a ton of wins for the Sox, but his stats don't impress. He's benefited from some great run support in general. I'd rather not give up Buchholtz, but again, dealbreaker, etc...

Rumor has it that Crisp and cash might be traded instead of Ellsbury. Great, let's do that. But if it's got to be Ellsbury, put me in the 20% group that would rather watch Johan Santana, the most exciting pitcher since Pedro in his prime, stalk the mound that Pedro once owned.

This and That

ECLECTICISM

The Bushies are once again moving the goal posts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tell me again: Why is this endeavor worth over 3,000 American lives?

[A]dministration officials say they are focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals in the hope of convincing Iraqis, foreign governments and Americans that progress is being made toward the political breakthroughs that the military campaign of the past 10 months was supposed to promote.

The short-term American targets include passage of a $48 billion Iraqi budget, something the Iraqis say they are on their way to doing anyway; renewing the United Nations mandate that authorizes an American presence in the country, which the Iraqis have done repeatedly before; and passing legislation to allow thousands of Baath Party members from Saddam Hussein’s era to rejoin the government. A senior Bush administration official described that goal as largely symbolic since rehirings have been quietly taking place already.

By the way, has anyone seen our feckless leader recently?

And I can't let the morning go by without at least pointing out UConn's loss yesterday. Apparently, Coach Edsall was less than gracious in defeat.

Fooling some of the people all of the time

MANIFESTO

As usual, Digby nails what's currently going on in the presidential campaigns, and, I have to say, I'm pretty tired of it all, having seen this scenario play out over and over and over and over again.

Meanwhile, closer to home, a guy who absolutely deserves to be excoriated (see here and here) has been pretty much let off the hook.

What's wrong with this picture?

This week's lowlight

MANIFESTO

What's becoming so hard for those of us of a certain age to wrap our minds around is how far the US has fallen as a moral leader. A district court judge—a freakin' district court judge—won't say whether waterboarding constitutes torture because he has not been briefed on classified information as he is still a private citizen. What a wimp. What a Nazi.

Here's Colin's take on the matter.