I tend to agree with Kevin Drum over at the Washington Monthly that the Dubai port deal is not necessarily the grave and gathering security risk its opponents decry. (The shocking political tone-deafness is another matter altogether.) But it certainly smells bad, in no small part because of the cronyism and close ties the Bush White House - and family -have to Dubai Ports World and the government of the UAE.

As has been reported previously, the Bush team is intimately linked to Dubai Ports World. The warm relationships start with Treasury Secretary John Snow, who chaired the CFIUS panel that approved the $6.8 billion deal with DPW. Prior to joining the administration, Snow was president of CSX, which sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World in 2004. Even more incestuous, David Sanborn, President Bush's choice to run the U.S. Maritime Administration, runs DPW's European and Latin American operations.

The ties that bind President Bush to Dubai, however, reach close to home. In the 1990's, Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) gave over $1 million to Bush Library Foundation, which established the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station. As Salon reports, family black sheep Neil Bush is a regular presence and dealmaker in Dubai and other Arab sheikdoms. Even more striking, the government of the UAE contributed $100 million to Hurricane Katrina relief only weeks before Dubai Ports World sought approval of the ports deal. The UAE gift accounted for roughly 75% of the total contributions of $126 million by governments worldwide.

There are no doubt many possible - and legitimate - explanations for the administration's OK of the Dubai deal. On the merits, DPW appears to be a proven, world-class provider of port operations and management. John Judis in the New Republic claims the President's steadfast support of the deal is tied to preserving aircraft sales at a critical time for Boeing.

But for the Bush White House, whose continued existence is based on fear-mongering and conflating threats from Arab villains real and imagined (that is, Bin Laden equals Saddam), the firestorm over the Dubai ports deal is comeuppance. Today's revelation that Dubai Ports World supports the Arab boycott of Israel only makes matters worse. The deal smells bad. Very bad.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that brings together three simmering Republican scandals. The GOP's unprecedented Congressional gerrymandering, Tom Delay's ethical failings and the Department of Justice's gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 will be among the story lines as the Roberts Court takes on the 2003 Texas redistricting cases.

On its face, the Texas cases concern the constitutionality of a new Congressional district map put in place by Texas Republicans in 2003. Coming only two years after a federal judge in 2001 ruled on a new district map reflecting the results of the 2000 U.S. Census, Tom Delay and the GOP-controlled Texas legislature took the unprecedented step of redrawing the boundaries to ensure a solid Republican Congressional delegation. The new map produced a 21-11 Republican majority in 2004, a sweeping change from the 17-15 Democratic edge previously.

The backstory on the Texas case is as shocking and disturbing as the naked Republican power grab itself. In 2002, Tom Delay led the all-out effort to win a Republican majority in the Texas legislature, a successful effort that led to the gain of six GOP seats in Congress in 2004. But it was that very campaign that led to the indictments against Delay and his Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) on charges of money-laundering. In the aftermath of the 2002 campaign, Delay used the FAA to track a flight of Democratic legislators headed to Oklahoma seeking to prevent a quorum - and a vote - on the new GOP redistricting map. For the FAA imbroglio, the House Ethics Committee admonished Delay in October, 2004.

The Republican intrigue in the Texas redistricting controversy does not end there. As with the Georgia voter ID card program, the Attorney General overruled career Justice Department staffers who had concluded that the Texas map violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by diminishing minority representation. While DOJ's Civil Rights Division would not grant the necessary "pre-clearance" required for electoral changes in key southern states, the White House had no such qualms.

The Texas case will be a litmus test of the partisan instincts of President Bush's new friends on the Court, Justices Roberts and Alito. As for their likely opinions, you can draw your own conclusions.

Two years ago, I wrote about the "Payback Principle" as one of the hallmarks of the Bush presidency. As it turns out, declaring total war to smear, intimidate, defame and destroy political opponents is common practice within the Texas GOP. That's what Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) found out when a Tom Delay ally in Congress triggered an IRS audit of the non-profit.

As the Washington Post reported today, the IRS cleared Texans for Public Justice after an audit commenced at the request of House Way and Means Committee member Sam Johnson, a Delay foot soldier and fellow Texas Republican. It was TPJ, Perrspectives reader may recall, who unearthed the Delay plot to circumvent Texas election law by laundering corporate donations through the Republican National Committee back to Delay's Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC). No doubt, the work of Texans for Public Justice helped bring to light some of the crimes for which Delay, the now former House Majority Leader, was later indicted by Ronnie Earle. (For more background on the Delay indictments and previous ethics violations, see the Perrspectives Delay/Abramoff Scandal Center.)

As Richard Clarke, General Eric Shinseki, Richard Foster, Ambassador Joseph Wilson and others who ran afoul of the Bush White House found out, no good deed goes unpunished by the Texas Republican machine. In June 2004, Delay put the hammer down, so to speak, with one-time ARMPAC attorney Barnaby Zall wrote to Johnson to complain about TPJ. On August 3rd, Johnson wrote IRS Commissioner Mark Everson that he had uncovered some disturbing information" and learned of possible tax violations. Johnson's letter continued, "I ask you to report back your findings of each of these investigations directly to me."

Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice learned of the Johnson scheme only after a Freedom of Information Act Request. As McDonald put it:

"This audit was political retaliation by Tom DeLay's cronies to intimidate us for blowing the whistle on DeLay's abuses. Enlisting the IRS to intimidate critics is a dirty trick reminiscent of Richard Nixon...It is not a crime to report a crime, as we did with DeLay."

Luckily for Texans for Public Justice, they emerged from the IRS audit unscathed and at least so, escaped the wrath of the Texas GOP. After all, it could have been worse; Dick Cheney could have taken them hunting.

Michael Crowley in The New Republic details Harris' fall from grace among national Republicans. Celebrated with flowers and marriage proposals after her successful efforts as Florida Secretary of State to block Al Gore's 2000 recount hopes, Harris' repeated stumbles and polarization of the Florida electorate has alienated the national GOP. Despite her personal wealth, fund-raising success and name recognition, Harris just squeaked by in her two house races in 2002 and 2004. Her high disapproval numbers were only made worse by "ThreatGate," Harris' fabricated claims in 2004 about the Bush administration's supposed thwarting of over 100 terrorist plots, including a mythical attempt to destroy the electrical grid in Carmel, Indiana.

The result for Harris is a dismal showing to date in her 2006 Senate race against the unpopular Democrat Bill Nelson. When the national GOP's "anyone but Harris" drive failed to bring Florida House Speaker Allan Bense, Representative Mark Foley, former Army General Tommy Franks or even MSNBC's Joe Scarborough into the race, one unnamed Republican operative said, "If Katherine Harris is the nominee, we lose." Those comments seem prescient, with Harris trailing Nelson by 15% in the polls and getting drubbed among independents by 64%-18%. It's no wonder President Bush won't do photo-ops with her anymore.

Harris' looming defeat by Nelson may only be the beginning of her troubles. On Friday, Mitchell Wade of defense contractor MZM, admitted making over $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Harris and Virginia Republican Virgil Goode. These revelation came as Wade pleaded guilty to four criminal charges stemming from his $1 million in cash, gifts and other bribes to former California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Harris' spokeswoman Kara Borie acknowledged the donations to "Representative B" in court papers. Harris made a statement that she met Wade and "discussed opening a defense plant in Sarasota that would create numerous high-skilled, high-wage jobs in my district." Borie claimed that all of the donations from MZM had since been donated to charity.

The upshot is that Katherine Harris' future likely won't include a stint as Florida Senator. Instead, Harris' Florida legacy may end up closer to Paul Begala's description of her: Cruella de Vil "coming to steal the puppies."

Larry Summers may be out at Harvard, but it appears Perrspectives is in.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my recent piece, "GM and the War on Labor," was on the required reading list for Economics 1812, a class on the U.S. labor market. The class, not surprisingly called "The U.S. Labor Market," also features readings from the Washington Post, the Detroit News and Bloomberg, as well as pieces from the Wharton School and economist Robert J. Samuelson.

I just hope that getting on a Harvard list doesn't also land me on one from David Horowitz.

When it comes to President Bush's illegal domestic spying program, his Republican allies over the last several days have shown that discretion is indeed the better part of valor.

From the beginning, the administration's amen corner has aggressive claimed that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the wartime Commander-in-Chief powers give President Bush the statutory and constitutional basis for sidestepping the FISA process for domestic electronic surveillance. But most in the GOP are downright sheepish when it comes to the third argument that logically flows from their first two: FISA itself is unconstitutional. Their trepidation is well founded; as a matter of law and of politics, an attack by Republicans on the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is bound to fail.

A host of recent statements by Republican stalwarts in the White House and in Congress reflect the fear of provoking a constitutional crisis that would almost certainly boomerang against the GOP. For example, Senate Judiciary Committee member Mike DeWine (R-OH), who has advocated legislation codifying the NSA wiretapping program by excluding it from the purview of FISA, said on February 17th:

You know, there's been some controversy about whether or not this program is legal or is not legal. I think we need to get beyond that - we don't want to have any kind of debate about whether it's constitutional or not constitutional.

On this Presidents' Day, Washington and Lincoln must be spinning in their graves. While the government enjoys a day off, the Republican scandals enveloping the capitol continue to mushroom out of control.

Among the lowlights:

• President Bush's allies in Congress are trying to block an inquiry into the illegal NSA domestic wiretapping program. Even as critics in his own party such as Lindsey Graham, Chuck Hegel and Arlen Specter question the legality of President Bush's NSA program, Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts has blocked any inquiry by his panel, at least until March 7.
• Speaking of Roberts, the same man who blocked the Phase II inquiry into the uses - and misuses - pre-Iraq war intelligence, conservatives are crowing about audio tapes of Saddam discussing WMD from the mid-1990's. These, they erroneously claim, justify the Bush team's characterization of Iraq as a "grave and gathering threat."
• On the Iraq front, the Abu Ghraib torture disgrace continues to expand. Just days after Salon published dozens of sickening new photographs of detainee abuse perpetrated in the name of the United States, a new piece in the New Yorker details how Alberto Mora, the former counsel general of the United States Navy, was stymied in his attempts to prevent the prisoner torture that unfolded at Abu Ghraib.
• Meanwhile, convicted Republican mega lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues to sing about his relationship with Karl Rove and the Bush White House.

For the latest news, legal documents, key statutes, timelines and other essential materials for the litany of Republican scandals, visit the Perrspectives Document Library.

Rarely is a precise price tag put on bigotry. But that's just what happened this week, when a University of California commission totaled the costs associated with the Pentagon's indefensible and staggeringly counterproductive "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gays in the American military.

That cost, according to the commission, is $369 million over 10 years, almost double the estimate originally offered by the Department of Defense. That shocking figure includes $79.3 million for recruitment of service members, $252.4 million for training, $17.8 million for officer training, and an additional $14.3 million for "separation travel" for those discharged under the policy.

The shameful "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is not merely a waste of taxpayer dollars. Much more important, the Clinton-era program lowers military readiness and jeopardized Americans' safety by removing essential, skilled personnel from our armed forces. In January, the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military released Pentagon figures estimating that 10,000 gay servicemen and women were discharged from the U.S. armed forces since 1994 under the don't ask, don't tell policy. Among them were some of the most highly trained and educated soldiers in the military, including 137 officers and 244 medical and health professionals. Even more incomprehensible, the "post-9/11" military continues to dismiss gay linguists skilled in essential languages such as Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, among others.

The treatment of gay Americans by the U.S. military - and by extension, all of us - is an abomination. Perhaps if Americans are not ready to concede the irreducible immorality of "don't ask, don't tell," at least we might be able to agree that it costs too much.

In Trenton on Wednesday, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments in the latest legal challenge to state prohibitions on same-sex marriage. Coming just weeks after a Baltimore Circuit Court struck down a 1973 Maryland statute barring same-sex couples from wedding, the New Jersey case reflects what may be the best strategy for pursuing equal marriage rights for all Americans.

As Perrspectives argued back in 2004, considerations of federalism and separation of powers argue that same-sex marriage advocates' best recipe for success lay in state court challenges by those individuals impacted. In the New Jersey case, as in the Maryland and Massachusetts rulings before them, gay couples themselves brought suit, claiming that the respective state constitutions enshrined equal rights and thus could not support "one man/one woman" statutes or codes. While the New Jersey and Maryland Supreme Courts have yet to rule in these cases, the Massachusetts experience suggests the prospects for the plaintiffs are promising.

The contrast with arbitrary action by city or county executives in California and Oregon could not be clearer. In February 2004, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome ordered the City Clerk to perform same-sex weddings. Despite the previous passage of a "one man/one woman" marriage state ballot measure by voters the previous year, Newsom declared the prohibition unconstitutional. That August, the California Supreme Court concluded otherwise, invalidating the 4,000 San Francisco marriages and concluding:

"This conclusion is consistent with the classic understanding of the separation-of-powers doctrine -- that the legislative power is the power to enact statues, the executive power is the power to execute or enforce statures, and the judicial power is the power to interpret statutes and to determine their constitutionality."

In Multnomah County last April, 3,000 gay couples similarly saw their marriages invalidated by the Oregon Supreme Court. There, the Court ruled that Multnomah County officials did not have an implicit grant of authority to "prescribe remedies for any perceived constitutional shortcomings."

Two years ago, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank saw the clear distinction between the two approaches. "I was sorry to see the San Francisco thing go forward," Frank said. "If we go forward in Massachusetts and get same-sex marriage on the books, it's going to be binding and incontestable."

As it turned out, Frank had it about right. While 19 states have amended their constitutions to bar gay couples from enjoying equal marriage rights, Massachusetts last September rejected a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, reversing its stance from only a year before.

Meanwhile, polls in New Jersey show broad support (55% to 40%) for equal marriage rights for gay couples. And in California, same-sex marriage supporters ponder what might have been.

It's been a busy few days for the Avenging Angel, smiter of right-wing miscreants.

First, Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele found out the hard way that you shouldn't get caught pretending to be a moderate. The African-American Senate hopeful angered Jewish voters with his comparison of stem cell research to the Holocaust. As the Baltimore Jewish Council learned last week, Steele doesn't know from Mengele.

Just days later, Clinton Grand Inquisitor Ken Starr found himself in the spotlight last week for a fraud of his own. The self-righteous Starr and a fellow lawyer apparently concocted fake letters from jurors asking California's governor to spare their death row client's life. Starr, the Angry One laughs, still doesn't know what the meaning of "is" is.

And this Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney, the #2 man on the Avenging Angel's Top 10 Transgressors List, gave his opponents (and at least one friend) plenty of ammunition this week. Hunting without the proper license, Cheney accidentally blasted 78 year-old, fellow Republican Harry Whittington while trying to bag a quail. Looking back on it, the Angel muses, Senator Pat Leahy was lucky to get away with an "F bomb" from the trigger happy Veep.

For those who have been following the ethical trials and travails of the GOP, the Buckeye State brings us the latest chapter of the Banana Republicans.

Ohio Republican fundraiser extraordinaire Tom Noe, a Bush pioneer and close supporter of Governor Robert Taft, has been indicted on 53 new counts of stealing over $1 million from a dubious state investment in rare coins. These counts come on top of earlier charges of illegally funneling over $45,000 to President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign. Noe's taint has reached the Governor's mansion, with four aides implicated and Taft himself pleading no contest to four misdemeanor ethic violations.

For all the latest news on the Abramoff/Delay and other Republican scandals, be sure to visit the Perrspectives Document Library. In the mean time, here's the latest body count for the Banana Republicans:

Facing increasing pressure over his ties to convicted Republican uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff, George W. Bush is doing what comes naturally: playing dumb. And why not? It worked for him with Ken Lay and the Valerie Plame leak.

On January 26th, President Bush denied any relationship with Abramoff, a "Pioneeer" who raised over $100,000 for his reelection campaign:

"You know, I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him."

Sadly for the President, a mountain of evidence shows otherwise. As The Washingtonian and ThinkProgress have documented (and others are now broadly reporting), Abramoff in recent emails admits to meeting Bush "in almost a dozen settings."

If history is any guide, President Bush will continue to plead ignorance. After the implosion of Enron, the President on January 10, 2002 claimed to have no relationship with Bush family friend and 2000 campaign "Ranger" Ken Lay:

"I got to know Ken Lay when he was the head of the-what they call the Governor's Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she had named him the head of the Governor's Business Council. And I decided to leave him in place, just for the sake of continuity. And that's when I first got to know Ken."

President Bush also used the Sgt. Schultz defense ("I know nothing!") in the wake of the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. On October 7, 2003, Bush declared nonchalantly of the leaker in his administration:

"I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official. Now, this is a large administration, and there's a lot of senior officials. I don't have any idea. I'd like to. I want to know the truth."

As the Daily Show's Jon Stewart might say, "not so much." But don't expect any change from the White House and Scott McClellan's "I'm with stupid" line. After all, it's working for them.

President Bush has flip-flopped once again. Just 24 hours after Vice President Cheney firmly declared the administration would not more broadly share information with key Congressional committee members regarding Bush's NSA domestic spying program, the White House reversed course - sort of.

The seeds of the turnabout were sown with yesterday's challenge from House Intelligence Committee member, Republican Heather Wilson of New Mexico. Wilson, who is also one of the few House GOP members to return contributions from Tom Delay's ARMPAC, said on Tuesday that she had "serious concerns" with the NSA's domestic surveillance efforts and called for an inquiry into the program. Her call followed Attorney General Gonzales' appearance Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, testimony which prompted GOP members including Senators Specter (R-PA), Brownback (R-KS) and Graham (R-SC) to raise the prospect of new FISA legislation.

On Tuesday evening, Vice President Cheney appearing on PBS Newshour drew a line in the sand, balking at expanded Congressional oversight and signaling White House opposition to Congressional legislative action:

We believe, Jim, that we have all the legal authority we need...I think it's important for us if we're going to proceed legislatively to keep in mind that there's a price to be paid for that and it might well in fact do irreparable damage to our capacity to collect this information.

By Wednesday afternoon, the strategic retreat by the White House was underway. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and former NSA head General Michael Hayden provided a limited briefing to members of Wilson's House Intelligence Committee. Though still severely limited in scope and operational details, the briefing led Democrat Jane Harman, a vocal critic of the administration's handling of the domestic spying program, to conclude hopefully, "the ice is falling." Harman also noted to PBS' Gwen Ifill:

Well, after hearing the vice president last night on your show, he must have had second thoughts overnight and today things are somewhat different, and I am encouraged.

Despite recent opinion polls seeming to suggest support for President Bush's domestic spying program, the White House has begun to lose control of events since Gonzales' Senate appearance on Monday. Senator Arlen Specter has discussed introducing legislation mandating FISA Court review of the President's program, with Kansas Senator Sam Brownback also supporting "crafting legislation to make the FISA court a more workable option." As Chuck Hegel, Republican of Nebraska and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded Wednesday:

Balance must be preserved between the executive branch and the legislature. And I think this is a clear example of where the balance has gotten skewed...The administration cannot unilaterally assume that they have the answers to get around or go over a law.

When it comes to its illegal domestic spying program, the Bush White House is feeling the heat and starting to bend. Just how far remains to be seen.

For more on the Bush administration statements reversed today, visit the PBS Newshour site. For the latest news, legal documents, statutes and other key materials regarding the domestic spying program, see the Perrspectives NSA Scandal Center.

During a break in the Senate testimony by Attorney General Gonzales this morning, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions resorted to the now standard Republican defense of President Bush's illegal domestic spying program. Call it the "Give Me Death" strategy.

During brief comments to the press, Sessions referring to the rightness of Bush's domestic spying after 9/11 declared melodramatically:

"Over 3,000 Americans have no civil rights because they are no longer with us."

The Republican leadership is singing from the same Karl Rove fear-mongering hymnal to justify the President's lawbreaking. On February 3rd, Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, who has stonewalled the Phase II investigation into the misuses of pre-Iraq war intelligence, similarly claimed:

"You really don't have any civil liberties if you're dead."

Roberts, who also authored a vitriolic 19-page letter defending the NSA domestic surveillance program, merely followed in the footsteps of Senator John Cornyn. Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said on December 20, 2005:

"None of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead."

Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold responded with Patrick Henry's clarion call, "Give me liberty of give me death." But for Republicans, there are apparently now three certainties in life: death, taxes and domestic spying. Taxes, of course, the GOP is worried about. Domestic spying? Not so much.

In Atlanta this weekend, thousands braved unusually cold weather to pay their final respects to Coretta Scott King, who lay in state at the Georgia Capitol.

That honor, withheld from her slain husband in 1968 by the legendary racist Governor Lester Maddox, comes as a bitter irony. For it was in the same Georgia Capitol only days before that the GOP-controlled legislature passed and Republican Governor Sonny Perdue signed a restrictive new voter ID card program designed to suppress minority turnout in the state.

As I wrote last month ("Plantation Politics"), the Georgia GOP passed the equivalent of a 21st century poll tax to hold down the black vote, a bloc that votes overwhelmingly for Democrats. Career civil servants in the Justice Departments's Civil Rights Division voted 4-1 to withhold "pre-clearance" for the law under the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. President Bush's Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, however, reversed their ruling and paved the way for the new system of pay-to-play voter ID cards, which due to cost and limited availability in Georgia's counties could have disenfranchised over 150,000 primarily black voters. When a federal judge blocked implementation of the law in October, the Georgia legislature responded by passing a modified version in January within days of its commemoration of Martin Luther King Day.

On Saturday, the hypocritical Governor Perdue added to the indignity, saying of Mrs. King, "This lady and her husband and many others fought for equality all of her life." And on Tuesday, President Bush will complete the insult during his scheduled remarks at Mrs. King's funeral.

Just in time for Lincoln's birthday, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will arrive in Washington. Next Thursday, February 9th, hundreds of right-wing activists, high-profile Republican politicians and conservative groups of all stripes will descend on the capital to give lie to the Great Emancipator's words, "with malice toward none; with charity for all."

The CPAC 2006 speakers include Vice President Cheney, whose scheduled remarks are said to include a primer on Senate floor etiquette. UN Ambassador John Bolton will lecture on how to win friends and influence people. The 2008 GOP presidential hopefuls will also be on the agenda, with Virginia Senator George Allen supposedly speaking about the New South, while Newt Gingrich is said to address the gathering on "The Sanctity of Marriage."

The compassionate conservative agenda will also be display in presentations covering a broad range of issues. Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo, the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly and a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will discuss topics such as "Immigration Reform: How Many and Whom?" Former Georgia Representative and Bush illegal wiretap foe Bob Barr will speak on "Preserving Civil Liberties in the Fight Against Terrorism" to what will likely be an empty room. And as the trial of Bush sugar-daddy and former Enron chief Ken Lay heats up in Houston, the Wall Street Journal and Free Enterprise Fund will rail against the "burdensome and unconstitutional" Sarbanes-Oxley law.

Celebrity book signings are also high on the agenda for America's budding reactionaries. Former Iran-Contra felon and current Fox News star Oliver North ("War Stories") will be joined by soon-to-be former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum ("It Takes a Family"). Bush bath water drinker Fred Barnes will also be hawking his screed, "Rebel in Chief." A plan to distribute signed posters of the Republican leadership was supposedly scrapped at the last minute.

More than anything else, though, CPAC is all about celebrating the conservative ascendancy. Even with President Bush's dismal poll ratings and a national consensus that the country is going in the wrong direction, the Republican Party Animals are set to surpass 2005's "Conservatives Gone Wild" conference. After-hours parties are rumored to include casino games hosted by Jack Abramoff and Bill Bennett, and "Pin the Feeding Tube on Terri Schiavo."

For those of you who missed the fun and frolic at CPAC 2005, you can read about it here. And don't forget to check out the commemorative t-shirts.

With the NSA domestic spying scandal and Pesident Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address, the past week has seen another shake-up in the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites.

Jumping to the top of the charts is the hard rocking smash hit, George W. Bush's "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Another cut from that same broken record, Karl Rove's "Pre-9/11 Mindset," vaulted to the #3 in the rankings. Still strong in second place is Scott McClellan's lyrical magic, "Ongoing Investigation."

Dropping off the charts was November's number one, "Rewriting History (is Irresponsible)." Also disappearing into the ether was Kay Bailey Hutchison's touching ballad to Scooter Libby, "No Underlying Crime (Perjury Technicality)."

Here is the complete list of the latest Top 10 GOP Sound Bites: