President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address  —  Washington, D.C.  —  State of the Union 2007  —  State of the Union 2007 Policy Initiatives  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.  And tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin …

Former Duke Prosecutor Faces New Ethics Charges  —  Nifong Accused of Withholding DNA Evidence From Defense, Making Misrepresentations to Judge  —  ABC Law & Justice Unit  —  Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been charged with new ethics violations for his conduct on the Duke lacrosse sex assault case.

A Powerful Response  —  Jim Webb tore up his party's playbook—and helped point the Democrats in a new direction.  —  Something unprecedented happened tonight, beyond the doorkeeper announcing, "Madame Speaker."  For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech.

SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE NEW YORK MONEY PEOPLE:  —  I've admired Wes Clark for a long time.  But his comments to Ariana Huffington about wealthy Jews pushing the country toward war with Iran strike me as nutty and disturbing.  Either I seriously misjudged the man, or his comments were misquoted or taken wildly out of context.

The Knee-Jerk Opposition  —  If George W. Bush proposes something, it must be bad.  Such is the knee-jerk state of partisan suspiciousness that when the president actually endorses a tax increase — a tax increase that would primarily hit the well-off, no less — Democrats still howl.

Watergate plotter Hunt dies at 88  —  Howard Hunt, the CIA officer who helped to plan the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of US President Richard Nixon has died, aged 88.  —  Mr Hunt, who was jailed over the incident, had died after a lengthy bout of pneumonia in Miami, his son said.

Watching the SOTU Speech on ABC  —  Did they really need to drag World News anchor Charles Gibson all the way down from New York just to do a stand-up intro with the Capitol dome over his shoulder?  George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz were in separate locations, so it wasn't as though he was joining them in the studio.

The Web Celeb 25  —  THE FACE OF FAME IS CHANGING.  The ranks of the world's celebrities used to be dominated by millionaire actors, athletes and musicians, but the Internet has leveled the playing field.  A kid with a video camera has access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star.

Iraq Parliament Finds a Quorum Hard to Come By  —  Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of Parliament, read a roll call of the 275 elected members with a goal of shaming the no-shows.  —  Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister?  Absent, living in Amman and London.  Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian statesman?

MN congresswoman can't keep her hand off President  —  Newly-elected Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann got quite a bit of face time with President Bush after his State of the Union Speech Tuesday night.  —  While the President was signing autographs for members of Congress after the speech …

The toxicity of Joe Lieberman's treason accusations  —  (updated below)  —  Joe Lieberman has probably become the single most poisonous Beltway voice when it comes to the war in Iraq.  The Bush administration's principal rhetorical tactic for the last five years, of course …

SOTU: MCCAIN — LACK OF SELF-CONTROL?  AN EXPRESSION OF CONTEMPT?  EMBARRASSING IN ANY CASE.  —  By Tucker Carlson  —  "We advance our own interests by helping reformers and advocates for democracy"?  That was Bush's position on the Middle East immediately after 9-11 and, remarkably, it remains his position.

TO ARMS: Still the President of the United States  —  "On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power  —  to shape the outcome of this battle.  —  Let us find our resolve,  —  and turn events toward victory.  Jules Crittenden follows up on his essay, "The State of the Union is a Disaster …

Senators eye rejection of Bush war plan  —  WASHINGTON - Democrats took the first step toward a wartime repudiation of President Bush on Wednesday, convening a Senate committee to endorse legislation declaring that the deployment of additional troops to Iraq is "not in the national interest."

Getting a Read On the Speech Makes for Quite A Snapshot  —  George W. Bush flirted with eloquence only at the end of his so-so, nuts-and-bolts State of the Union speech last night: "The state of our union is strong," he said, "our cause in the world is right, and tonight that cause goes on."