The Morning Blog

A small item in the New Republic is likely to be making the news pundits head spin tonight. According to this, Karl Rove and the White House not only encouraged Mark Foley to run again for the House this year when he didn't want to, Rove told him his future career as a lobbyist depended on it.

This pops up as the House Ethics Committee and the media are circling around Dennis Hastert, with evidence that his key aide had a meeting about Foley's conduct three years ago.

Rove is also making news as excerpts from a new book become public, portraying him as being contemptuous of the religious right as he was nakedly using them for his political ends. I didn't see Keith's report last night, but I'm seeing Andy Griffith in my head.


The conservative South, with it many military bases and which likely bears more of the burden of war, has turned against the war in Iraq. According to a new poll specifically of Southern attitudes, Iraqnam is no longer has majority support. The numbers mirror the national disapprovals, and in some cases are strongly. Some 62% said they were "very sad" about the course of the war, most believe it was a mistake. But the real shock is the sentiment for total withdrawal from Iraq is slightly higher in the South than nationally.

This poll comes as American casualities are high, there is a controversial estimate that upwards of 600,000 Iraqis have died since the U.S. invasion, and the Army is planning on maintaining current troop levels through 2010.