The Zeitgeist Checklist BY MICHAEL GRUNWALD
The Zeitgeist Checklist BY MICHAEL GRUNWALD
Sunday, October 15, 2006; Page B02
LA CAGE AUX FOLEY Last week: 2 Weeks on list: 5
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1Republicans. After polls suggest that the mess surrounding former congressman Mark Foley (Fla.) is poised to end GOP control of Congress, embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) calls for the resignation of anyone who knew about Foley's conduct, not including embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Meanwhile, amid allegations that several Republicans knew Foley had tried to crash a party for teenage House pages, GOP lawmakers demand an investigation of . . . the Clinton administration's Sandy Berger? Next month, they may get to watch their own party crash.
BOMBS AWAY! Last week: 4 Weeks on list: 2
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2North Korea. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also takes aim at the Clinton administration, which had a foreign policy so diabolical that it allowed Kim Jong Il to develop a nuclear bomb on President Bush's watch. Bush vows to resolve the crisis through diplomacy, because nothing else has worked. But he also warns that if North Korea remains defiant, he can't rule out the possibility that the United States will invade Luxembourg.
SCOTTIE AND KIRK Last week: 1 Weeks on list: 2
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3Page-gate. GOP staffer Kirk Fordham testifies that he warned Hastert aide Scott Palmer about Foley's antics; Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and House clerk Jeff Trandahl also had inklings. Incidentally, Fordham, Kolbe, Trandahl and Foley are all gay, and Palmer is Hastert's D.C. roommate. Pretty soon, the Republican caucus is going to get its own show on Bravo.
DEATH BY NUMBERS Last week: 3 Weeks on list: 16
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4Iraq. A new study estimates that the war has caused an additional 650,000 Iraqi deaths since 2003, about 600,000 of them from violence, the rest from imported California spinach. Other studies are less alarmist, suggesting that at the current rate, the war wouldn't claim that many lives for two more decades. At the current rate, we'll probably get to find out if that's true.
CAN RUMSFELD HAVE ONE? Last week: 6 Weeks on list: 2
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5Economy. Bush heralds the creation of nearly 6 million new private-sector jobs since 2003, not all of them for lawyers in the Foley case. And the budget deficit is at its lowest level since 2002; Bush says this shows the need for more tax cuts. In other news, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie are friends again; Bush says this also shows the need for more tax cuts.
YOUNUTS? Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1
[Back]6Technology. As the stock market sets another new record, Google announces its $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, the video-sharing Web site best known for its footage of fat people falling and dogs attacking crotches. Yahoo is now considering a hostile takeover of "America's Funniest Home Videos," and David Letterman is taking Stupid Pet Tricks public.
VIRGINIA IS FOR QUITTERS Last week: 5 Weeks on list: 3
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