Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson was online Tuesday, July 11, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his recent columns and anything else that's on your mind.

The transcript follows.

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Eugene Robinson: Hello, everyone. Sweltering here in Imperial Washington today. I'll be here for the next hour to talk about whatever you'd like to raise. Today's column was about the Internet conspiracy theories concerning Ken Lay -- did he fake his death? or commit suicide? (No, he didn't do either, but hey, it's summer.) Last Friday's column was on the disputed Mexican election. And there's lots of news today, so I have a feeling we'll touch on many other topics as well.

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washingtonpost.com: A CEO in Odd Company, (Post, July 11, 2006)

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Washington, D.C.: Good morning, Eugene! I was a little shocked by your article this morning, I must admit. I am not generally a conspiracy theorist, but I count myself among those who believes that Ken Lay is probably not actually dead. Why do we suddenly think that this guy is capable of a massive conspiracy that will make him and his family millions? He was just convicted for doing exactly the same thing. And since his "death" came before he had exhausted his appeals, several experts predict that the charges against him will be vacated, and the charges against Skilling probably will be too. In addition, his family will get to keep all their money and property. And since his family decided to cremate him, there's no way we can know for sure. It is TOO convenient, and I don't think it has anything to do with Elvis or Tupac. Given this guy's history of brazen and shameless conspiracy, there's no way I would put this past him.

Eugene Robinson: You make the case very well, but I don't buy it, I'm afraid. If he had been "lost at sea" or something, then sure. But there was a corpse, and it did get looked at by authorities, and I'm betting that it was really Kenny Boy.

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Arlington, Va.: Bush announces a deficit of $296 billion. Hooray! Although I remember Clinton's last two budgets were zero and a surplus. The audio clip that I heard, the audience applauded like a bunch of trained seals.

Eugene Robinson: I think they were, indeed, trained seals. Seriously, though, since when is a $300 billion deficit an achievement, especially since the last president managed to produce a surplus? I suspect -- everyone suspects, actually -- that the White House encouraged those higher estimates of the deficit so that when it came in at $300 billion, they could claim it as a victory. Mission accomplished.

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Richmond, Va.: I keep asking The Post political chatters to answer this question, but it doesn't get answered. Why is it so difficult for the MSM to label what is going on in Iraq now a civil war? The administration, of course, can't label it a civil war because it profoundly upends every reason we were supposedly were there in the first place, but surely this IS a civil war, and the MSM seems to follow the administration's desire not to label it as such rather than leading with the realities.

Eugene Robinson: Here's your answer. What's the definition of a civil war? I guess you know it when you see it, right? What's happening in Iraq looks like a civil war to me, and I have no problem using that term. But that can't be so, according to your question, because I happen to work for the dreaded MSM. I get more than annoyed about "bad old MSM" questions when they concern Iraq coverage, because if it weren't for large news organizations that are able and willing to spend vast amounts of money covering the war, and brave correspondents willing to literally risk their lives, people who like to dis the MSM wouldn't know about the tragic carnage that is taking place in Baghdad and elsewhere day after day.

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Dorchester, Mass.: Even though I do not agree with Senator Lieberman about Iraq I respect his right to stand on his principles about that conflict. I just want him and his like minded Democrats to understand that Democrat voters like me are willing to stand on our principles and vote them out.

I feel oppressed in this country because everyday it seems some government agency has chipped a little more of my rights and security away either actively in the case of the NSA or FBI or passively as in the failure of the EPA, FDA or the lousy Corps of Engineers have failed to act on protecting the very people whose tax dollars support them. The Democrats have a wealth of things to hang the Republicans yet it seems that they are so very fearful of doing it.

That aside, why is it that so little has been written about the elected officials who sabotaged the Voting Rights Act extension? Who are these people and how might they pay for such an ugly deed?

Eugene Robinson: I wrote a column June 23 headlined "Bigotry Beneath the Fog" about the sabotaging of the VRA extension, but you're right that there hasn't been enough attention paid to this issue. The GOP House leadership agreed to pass the extension but has been stymied by two Republican factions: One group, mainly from Georgia and Texas, that believes Southern states should not be singled out any longer, now that we've got that racism thing all solved -- not! -- and another group, this one including xenophobes like Steve King of Iowa, that wants to hold the whole thing up because the VRA requires some jurisdictions to print bilingual ballots. Incredible. Just incredible.

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Bethesda, Md.: Am I the only reader that found The Post's story covering Gen. Pace's testimony to Congress on immigration bizarre? I have no doubt that his account of his family history was both sincere and moving, but why is it news? What is his particular expertise on immigration? I can only figure that the folks down at HQ on Pennsylvania Ave. needed a story that humanized our military in the wake of all the atrocities, and the Post was only too happy to comply, as it has ever since 9/11 changed everything (including journalistic independence). Please tell Mr. Frankel and Ms. Deanne that it was nicely written though, if transparent.

Eugene Robinson: You're referring to the story about how this tough Marine Corps general broke down in tears at a Senate immigration hearing when he talked about his immigrant father. It was basically a man-bites-dog story -- a Marine general in tears is unusual. So that's probably why the story was done that way.

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Rockville, Md.: An easy shot? Sure. Why not? He deserves it?

Presidents have about as much to do with the economy as Kings do with the tides (King Canute on the Seashore by: James Baldwin, The Book of Virtues ... "I notice the tide is coming in. Do you think it will stop if I give the command?") But it is easy to bless President Clinton and cuss President Bush because the economy moves around. The surplus was totally unexpected, by the way.

But hey. If the game is bash the president - go for it. Someone might believe it. Somewhere.

Eugene Robinson: But we were talking about the budget deficit, right? It's true that the economy moves to its own rhythms, but the deficit is simpler to figure out. If you cut taxes and spend like a drunken sailor, you go from surplus to deficit.

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Albany, N.Y.: Regarding Iraq, when are people going to realize things are what they are, regardless of what you call them; call it a civil war or not, it changes nothing. I could think of a dozen examples of this where people get all worked up over what you label something when what is actually happening is clear, whether some particularly painful punishment is torture for example. In the end what difference does it make

Eugene Robinson: You make the point I forgot to make in my earlier answer. I'm all for clarity and precision in language -- and forthrightness. I think "civil war" is a better, punchier way of saying it than "rampant sectarian violence." But in the end, it's the events that matter, not the label.

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Pittsburgh, Pa.: Every morning of my life the first thought that goes through my mind is "Will this be the day my Army officer husband is called up to active duty and sent back to Iraq?" The second thought is to wonder whether he will be allowed to retire next year after twenty years of service or will he be held in indentured servitude like hundreds of other Army Reserve officers. My question concerns the politics of a prospective withdrawal from Iraq. It appears the Army and the administration are planning for a draw down and redeployment of forces even as they label similar Democratic plans as "cut and run" defeatism. Isn't it just a matter of Karl Rove figuring out what the most politically advantageous time is for redeployment? And in that case aren't we sacrificing soldiers and marines for the Republican Party's political calculus? Thanks in advance for letting me vent.

Eugene Robinson: You deserve the chance to vent. I'm sad to say that I wouldn't be surprised to see your scenario come true -- an announcement of a modest troop withdrawal that happens to come in time for the midterm election. But I wouldn't be the ranch on it, because the civil war -- see, I used the phrase -- is heating up so much that any withdrawal would seem to be nakedly political.

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Brumley, Mo.: Mr. Robinson,

Ken Lay was born and raised not too far from where I live in Missouri, the son of a preacher, who worked hard to get through college, to eventually earn his PhD after which he took a position working for the government in Washington before going into private business. Nothing in his life before Enron suggested he was a crook. He maintained until the end he was innocent, and I assume he meant that he believed his intentions were honorable. Your column, as many others, suggests you believe he was an intrinsically evil person. Having had a small business myself I know that corporate law is complex, ambiguous, and contradictory, all factors which at times might lead some corporate executives to push the limits whereas others would be more conservative. I also know that because of the nature of the complexity of corporate law, auditors almost always will find something they feel is amiss for which money is owed the government. In the end, I suppose only God knows what Ken Lay was, but I have noted that a great many of his friends and family stood by him to the end feeling he was an honest man who made poor business decisions at a time of high volatility in the market of energy futures and then compounded the crisis more by unwise financial transactions in an effort to save his company.

Eugene Robinson: All true. However, he was found guilty of massive fraud, and there was no hesitation or ambiguity in the jury's verdict. As an aside, I have a friend who had some encounters with Lay in a business setting and believes the claim that Lay was somehow blissfully unaware of the scam is ludicrous.

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College Park, Md.: Your column today refers to Mr. Lay swindling Enron employees out of retirement funds. Setting aside the issue of Mr. Lay's culpability for actions by his managers, your column shows a basic misunderstanding of investments. Namely, you seem to imply that investments (be they 401-K accounts, gold or real estate) have some sort of fixed value that exists irrespective of time. Not true! The value of any investment is dependent on numerous factors (including psychological factors) that can change from moment to moment. Dozens of events--including management screwups-- could have driven down the value of Enron stock between its highpoint in the late '90s and its low point in late 2001.

Eugene Robinson: True, but Lay was convicted of criminal fraud. It's one thing for management to screw up. It's another for management to fiddle the books.

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Fairfax, Va.: Calling it a civil war changes a lot in the debate here about whether we should stay or leave. Calling it a civil war makes it much harder for Bush to claim its a war on terror, his latest justification.

Eugene Robinson: Would that it were so. Pointing out that there was no terror threat from Iraq prior to the invasion, and that there was no connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, hasn't stopped the president from calling it a war on terror. Why do you think calling it a civil war is going to do the trick?

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Washington, D.C.: Mr. Robinson,

You asked: when is a $300 million deficit an accomplishment?

When it is put in the proper context - which so few columnists ever do.

When measured against the size of the economy - at 2.3 percent of gross domestic product - the 2006 deficit would be lower than the deficits of 17 of the past 25 years.

Eugene Robinson: So I guess you would be referring to the Reagan years, the Bush the Elder years, and the Bush the Younger years. Those years when the deficit as a percentage of GDP was smaller than the deficit Bush the Younger announced today would be Clinton years, I suppose?

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San Antonio, Texas: Labels, schmabels. Who cares if it's called a civil war, as NBC did last night, or rampant sectarian violence, if it's the events that matter, as you suggest. So where is it all headed? (I know, I know, a crystal-ball question, but give it your best shot.)

Eugene Robinson: My best shot? I think there are essentially two possible ways this mayhem can progress. One, which seems increasingly likely, is that it escalates into all-out, Yugoslavia-style warfare, which could bring neighboring countries into the conflict and spin completely out of control. As if it weren't already out of control. The second is that it levels off at the level of tit-for-tat atrocities for the indefinite future, which probably leads to de facto ethnic cleansing, which makes the idea of a unitary Iraq even more of a fiction than it is now.

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Miami, Fla.: "But in the end, it's the events that matter, not the label." I have to disagree wholeheartedly with you on this--and agree with Orwell. Language, and its abuse, matters. Euphemisms and abstractions don't only water down the writing, they water down the images people get about occurrences. "Civil war" is easy to grasp; "sectarian violence" is tougher to grasp.

Eugene Robinson: I am a disciple of Orwell and agree wholeheartedly that words really matter. We're splitting hairs here, though. "War on terror" is an Orwellian euphemism, just like "Terrorist Surveillance Program." But "sectarian violence" is a perfectly good phrase -- again, maybe not as punchy as "civil war," but a matter of legitimate choice.

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New Hampshire: It's an illegal war, a horrendous civil war that we nursed along, and a brutal occupation.

There, I said it.

Eugene Robinson: While we're on the subject of language, "occupation" is a word that should be used more to describe the U.S. presence in Iraq. That's certainly how the Iraqis who have to negotiate the U.S. checkpoints would see it.

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Washington, D.C. : Did you feel that Ken Lay was intrinsically evil?

Of course many people who invested in Enron stock lost money. Many people made money from Enron stock, too. People make and lose money in the stock market every day.

While at Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines evidently maneuvered a huge financial fraud that cost many investors millions of dollars. Do you feel that Mr. Raines is evil? Why the harsh treatment of Mr. Lay compared to Mr. Raines?

Mr. Lay was not a perfect man. Nobody is. But for you to paint a man that you don't know as evil, despite a preponderance of the evidence to the contrary, is beyond me.

Eugene Robinson: I don't know if Ken Lay was intrinsically evil, and anyway we don't have enough time today to explore the true meaning of evil. Of course people can make money or lose money on stocks. But if the people who run a company pump up the stock to make money for themselves, knowing that it's all an illusion and the value isn't really there -- or being criminally unaware that the value isn't there -- then that's a criminal offense. Frank Raines has not been charged with a crime, although regulators or Fannie Mae may still go after some of the huge bonuses he received from reporting earnings that regulators have concluded were not real. But Fannie Mae is still there, employing thousands of people. Enron is gone.

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Laurel, Md.: One reason to applaud a $296 billion deficit is that Bush is actually ahead of schedule to fulfill a campaign promise to halve the budget deficit's portion of GDP by the end of his term. About $260 billion in FY '09 is the final goal.

Eugene Robinson: But he created the deficit! If I tool a hundred dollars out of your bank account and then called a press conference to announce that I had put twenty-five dollars back and was ahead of schedule on my plan to repay you, would you applaud?

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Fairfax, Va.: Why will calling it a civil war do the trick? It won't stop Bush at first but it may over time influence the public who will get tired of seeing our troops dying in a civil war. If the newspapers and TV had aggressively run headlines that the Iraq occupation was not equivalent to the war on terror or that Saddam was not tied to bin Laden and nothing changed I might see your point. But the MSM did not do that. They have been tentative at best in confronting Administration misinformation and misdirection. Try Harder! Let's see front page Post headlines about the latest from the Civil War in Iraq and I bet it will do the trick.

Eugene Robinson: I wish, I really wish. I'm afraid that headlines are no magic bullet. Solid, brave, honest reporting is the most powerful tool we have.

Thanks, everyone, but my time is up. I'll be away next week, but back the following Tuesday. Those of you who are in the neighborhood, try to keep cool. Do what my grandmother always said -- Walk slowly, and keep to the shade.

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