Hoist By Their Own Petard

The stoopid-from-the-very-beginning controversy about the "outing" of Valerie Plame is reaching its denouement. A couple of New York Times reporters face jail for protecting sources for a story that was never really a story in the first place, only a partisan media circus trying to tar Bush with a pseudo scandal. There's a lot of poetic justice happenin' these days...

James Taranto has a good summary of the situation (under the heading ("The Times Turnabout").

Also, a nice bit in today's Taranto column:

What Comes After '9'? '10,' Says Poli Scientist.

In a USA Today op-ed, Ross Baker, a Rutgers political scientist, ponders the possibility that America is in the midst of a partisan realignment:

A Republican dominance in 2005 and beyond might well produce more conservative social legislation, a relaxation of regulations on business and environmental rules and more truculent policy toward countries that sponsor terrorism. If he could pull it off, Bush would find himself in the select company of such presidents as Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt--all of whom engineered realignments.

But Baker is skeptical: "Can the president pull off this political feat? History doesn't offer great encouragement. Realignments, when they do occur, have only followed events of the greatest magnitude."

As we were writing this, we looked out the window of our office in New York's World Financial Center. Just across the street is a big pit. Didn't there use to be some buildings there? We could've sworn . . . But nah, we must be misremembering. Nothing happening here, just move along . . .