In footwear, flip-flops are what you slip on when you want something comfortable and easy. In politics, flip-flops are the sloppy intellectual equivalent: what you talk about when you're looking for a comfortable and easy way to attack the opposition.

From the Washington Post, Wednesday, July 2:

Enough already! The country's at war, the economy is struggling, oil prices are surging. The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates have dramatically different approaches to all this and more. And we've just concluded Day Three of the latest surrogate pseudo-drama: "Gen. Wesley K. Clark: Stupid Comment or Deliberate Slight?"

From the Dallas Morning News Monday, June 30:

Last week's oil conference in Saudi Arabia marked a turning point in U.S.-Saudi relations, raising doubts about whether the oil-for-security formula still guides this longtime alliance.

Zimbabwe, how it was before:

General Wesley "Flap-jaw" Clark recently said of John McCain that "riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down" is no qualification to be president, and the immediate accusation was that he was guilty of "swiftboating." Two disgraceful things are going on here, starting with Clark's mouth.

Shhh. Listen. Hear that? It's a pulse. Faint, but there. An actual sign of life, one that could allay the fears of many about the state of Republicans in Congress.

Barack Obama and John McCain led voters to believe they would rise above the old politics and offer something new. The way things are going, however, their general election campaign is shaping up as politics as usual, which suggests it's going to be business as usual in Washington regardless of which candidate makes it to the White House.

Dick Cheney was angry.