Politics reached a new low in the run-up to General Petreaus’ testimony before Congress yesterday. The editors at The Wall Street Journal excoriated the slanderous tactics used against Petreaus and have called for congressional Democrats to repudiate MoveOn.org’s full-page ad in The New York Times which renamed the general “General Betray Us.” Norman Podhoretz gives a good account of the “Vietnam syndrome” that has given birth to the cynicism that seems to be the order of the day in politics. In “America the Ugly,” he writes: “It is impossible at this point to predict how and when the battle of Iraq will end. But from the vitriolic debates it has…

This is big news, but not because it remarkably effects the fortunes of the current administration. It’s big news because it does affect the political rhetoric leading into the ’08 election cycle. One of the key strategies of Democratic presidential hopefuls thus far has been castigating the misfires of the Bush administration. Gonzalez’s exit will justify for them adding one more item to their growing list of reasons not to vote for a Republican in ’08. If you vote Republican, you’ll get more of what you got with Bush. Their list of Bush bungles goes something like this:

Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News argues that Rudy Giuliani’s strength on national security may override concerns that evangelicals have about his liberal social views: “The Republican Party’s staunchest supporters of the war on terrorism . . . may be motivated by a candidate they believe will protect them against terrorism. In particular, that could help Mr. Giuliani overcome the conventional wisdom that a GOP dominated by Christian conservatives won’t nominate a social liberal for president. “‘The national security issues appeal to a number of evangelicals,’ said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life, who has long studied how religion motivates voters. ‘They…

President Bush called Karl Rove the “architect” of his electoral victory in 2004. Rove has been much more than that. He has also been a top advisor to President Bush in both of his administrations, and now he is resigning. Reports say that his departure is unrelated to congressional investigations concerning the firings of U.S. attorneys. “The Mark of Rove” – by Paul A. Gigot (Wall Street Journal) “Karl Rove, Adviser to President Bush, to Resign” – by Peter Baker and Debbi Wilgoren (Washington Post)

Chuck Colson will not endorse a candidate right now. But he has sized up the field of candidates running for President: “It is the most disappointing field of candidates, looking on both sides of the aisle, that I’ve seen in my lifetime. I don’t remember an election where less people have got me excited from either side.” I agree with that assessment. Well said.

The most encouraging analysis that I have read on the progress of the Iraq War is Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack’s Op-Ed piece in today’s New York Times. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a foreign policy think-tank that is widely regarded as leaning liberal.