The two main points from US Senator Jack Reed, who appeared with Senate colleague Chuck Hagel this morning on Meet The Press:
1) The US has known for months about the newish, more lethal type of IEDs being introduced into Iraq, reportedly by Iran's Quds Force, part of the that country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The obvious implication: reasonable skepticism is advised regarding White House pronouncements about Iran.
2) Congressional Republicans are likely to have more of an impact on Bush's Iraq policy than Democrats or other influences.
Meanwhile, Patrick Healy has a good look in the New York Times at the politics of Hillary's decision not to apologize for her Senate vote in favor of authorizing the war. Another interesting bit was the tagline at the end, indicating how former ProJo scribe Ariel Sabar, who left Fountain Street a few years ago for the Wall Street Journal, contributed to the story from NH.
In the ProJo, Charlie Bakst brought his A game to a Sunday column about Mitt Romney's presidential aspirations. Just a week ago, Bakst revealed how Governor Carcieri, despite some quite supportive words in the past for Rudy Giuliani, is firmly in the Romney camp.
Also in the Sunday ProJo, lawyer and political activst Angel Taveras points out what Phoenix readers already know: that RI is not a welfare magnet.
Btw, I had a chance to chat with former governor Bruce Sundlun prior to his talk Friday at the RDW Group. Sundlun was recalling his controverial gubernatorial cuts in the general public assistance program, so it seemed natural to ask his view on the "welfare magnet" argument. He responded by saying, no, there's no evidence to indicate that people move to Rhode Island because of state-sponsored social programs.