The “Ethical Spectacle.”

“Worse, today’s progressives fail to tap into America’s collective unconscious through spectacle, which Duncombe defines as ‘a way of making an argument…through story and myth, fears and desire, imagination and fantasy.’ Republican Party leaders don’t hesitate to derive inspiration from Madison Avenue and Hollywood. George W. Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ photo-op may have backfired, but it demonstrated an impressive commitment to spectacle. In this way, Republicans are actually far more populist than the New Democrats.“

World of Demcraft? In a review of Stephen Duncombe’s intriguing new Dream, Slate‘s Joshua Glenn argues that progressives need to liven up their image, perhaps by taking a cue from games like Grand Theft Auto: “‘If a game offers power, excitement, and the room to explore, people will play evening after evening after evening, almost regardless of the results,’ he writes. ‘Perhaps the problem is not that people don’t want to get involved in politics, but rather that they don’t want to take part in a professionalized politics so interested in efficiency that there is no space for them, or they don’t want to spend time in a political world so cramped that there’s no freedom to explore and discover, to know or master.’“

Get Out While You Still Can!

“All administrations produce unhappy people in the second term…What has changed at this point, though, ‘is that it feels like it’s every man for himself,’ says one former senior administration official.” Slate‘s John Dickerson takes a gander at the sinking ship mentality currently pervading the Dubya White House.

Are You on the List?

“The bar for inclusion is low, and once someone is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off it. At any stage, the process can lead to ‘horror stories’ of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.” The WP plunges into the rising TIDE (Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment), a.k.a. the terrorist watch list that has quadrupled in size over the past four years. (And, here I thought we were winning the war on terror.) “Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said last year that his wife had been delayed repeatedly while airlines queried whether Catherine Stevens was the watch-listed Cat Stevens.“

The GOP’s Finest.

“It was a running joke that some of the new faces were 25- to 32-year-old males asking, ‘First name, last name?'” A front-page story in today’s NYT discloses that the NYPD spied on possible RNC protesters for over a year before the 2004 convention, including several unlikely candidates — such as Billionaires for Bush — for anything other than lawful political protest. “‘The police have no authority to spy on lawful political activity, and this wide-ranging N.Y.P.D. program was wrong and illegal,’ Mr. Dunn [of the ACLU] said. ‘In the coming weeks, the city will be required to disclose to us many more details about its preconvention surveillance of groups and activists, and many will be shocked by the breadth of the Police Department’s political surveillance operation.’”

Bring me the head of Alberto Gonzales.

As Dubya bequeaths another “heck of a job” upon his embattled attorney general, it comes to light that Alberto Gonzales apparently lied about his conducting meetings concerning the firing of federal prosecutors. Said Sen. Chuck Schumer of the revelations: “If the facts bear out that Attorney General Gonzales knew much more about the plan than he has previously admitted, then he can no longer serve as attorney general.” Update: “He has said some things that just don’t add up.” Republican Senators start to pile on, among them Hagel, Graham, and Specter.

The Writing on the Wall.

November’s returns and congressional oversight are already sticking in their craw, and now a new study by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press finds even more trouble ahead for the formerly dominant GOP: “The analysis of 20 years of polling data…says that half of the public identifies as a Democrat or leans that way. Just 35 percent align with the Republican Party. In 2002, the country was split, 43 percent affiliating with the Republicans and the same percentage with the Democrats.” 1968-2006…it was a pretty good run, y’all, but now it’s time…for you…to go.

The House: Get Out.

By a vote of 218-212 and with only two Republicans joining the majority, the House votes on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq: “The bill would establish strict standards for resting, training and equipping combat troops before their deployment and lay down binding benchmarks for the Iraqi government, such as assuming control of security operations, quelling sectarian violence and more equitably distributing oil revenue. If progress is not made toward those benchmarks, some troops would be required to come home as early as July. In any event, troop withdrawals would have to begin in March 2008, with all combat forces out by Aug. 31, 2008.” For now, and as with the persecuted prosecutors, Dubya is trying to play the partisanship card, and, in any case, the bill has a tough road to hoe in the Senate, where similar legislation received only 48 votes last time around. But, give them credit: While navigating a few defections on either side of the issue, Speaker Pelosi & co. put money where their mouths were last election season. Indeed, the WP deems the bill “one of the toughest antiwar measures ever to pass a house of Congress during combat operations.”

Novak’s No-No.

em>”Novak may choose to regret or not regret that he blew the cover of an undercover CIA employee; he would hardly be the first journalist to do so. But for Novak to continue pretending he did no such thing is just weird.” Slate‘s Tim Noah explains why Bob Novak is guilty of outing Valerie Plame, even if the DoL tends to suggest otherwise.

The Ghost of Albert Fall.

Exposed as a target in January, former Dubya Interior official J. Stephen Griles pleads guilty to lying to Congress about his connections with “Casino” Jack Abramoff’s influence-peddling operation. “‘Today’s guilty plea clearly establishes that former deputy secretary J. Steven Griles was ready and willing to serve as Jack Abramoff’s “man inside Interior,” ‘ said Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, whose criminal investigators worked with the Justice Department and the FBI on the case.”

Nuclear Subpoenas?

The plot thickens: A battle over executive privilege looms as the Senate handily rejects Dubya’s attempt to evade subpoenas for Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and other administration officials in the persecuted prosecutors dispute. “‘The only thing they would accept is if the Senate did exactly what they told them to, which would be closed-door, limited number of people, limited agenda, no oath and no transcript, so nobody knows exactly what happened,’ Leahy said. ‘So there’s really nothing to look for for a compromise, because that is not acceptable to me.’” For their part, Spineless Specter advocated a capitulation to Dubya, as per the norm, while Republican Charles Grassley supported the Senate’s use of the subpoena power.