If you haven't, you might want to check out Mosaic, an online video site with translated newscasts from the Middle East.

They sure do hate Israel over there at Al Jazeera.

For the past day or so the Dems have been challenging the Bush administration to name any of their brethren who are talking about cutting off funds for the Iraq war. The White House should take another look at this explanation of Sen. Carl Levin's proposal, offered as an amendment to the 2007 Defense Appropriations bill.

Levin's proposal was for a phased withdrawal from Iraq and then,

"...during and after the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq, the United States will need to sustain a nonmilitary effort to actively support reconstruction, governance and a durable political solution in Iraq." (emphasis added)

Sounds like a cutoff of funds for any military support to me. When I think about 1974, Levin's proposal sends a shiver up my spine.

Before too many people flee for the holiday weekend, I wanted to alert D.C.-area RCP Blog readers that I'll be speaking Sept. 6 (next Wednesday) at the Cato Institute at noon about my new book, just out from Wiley, The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party.

You can register to attend here. There will also be a feed online.

I'll be talking about big-government conservatism and the GOP's building identity crisis -- especially what it means for the Republican Party's hold on the eight states of the interior West. And I'll be joined by the famed Michael Barone of U.S. News & World Report and of course coauthor of the Almanac of American Politics, who will offer commentary.

Should be fun. You might even get a free sandwich from the think tank that understands better than any other that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

What in the world is wrong with Republican candidates this year?

From the AP:

Republican Sen. Conrad Burns [R-MT], whose recent comments have stirred controversy, says the United States is up against a faceless enemy of terrorists who "drive taxi cabs in the daytime and kill at night."

Macaca? Taxi cabs? Only Christians should legislate?

At least he didn't mention convenience stores.

TOM ADDS: This is Burns' third outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease in the last six weeks. For an experienced politician, he's sure acting an awful lot like a novice.

President Bush raised a million five for the Corker campaign last night. Get more news on the RCP Politics & Elections page.

A new SurveyUSA poll conducted for 9 News shows Kweisi Mfume leading Ben Cardin, 42-38, with 13 percent undecided. The two Democrats square off in a televised debate tonight at 7pm on Maryland Public Television.

Russ Smith has been watching this race and chastising Cardin for taking it too easy on Mfume. We'll see if Cardin finally decides it's time to take off the gloves.

Anti-war Hillary Clinton primary challenger Jon Tasini is finally getting the MoveOn.org poll he's been itching for, which could throw the online group's endorsement behind him in New York.

According to an email sent out by his campaign just minutes ago:

URGENT! Vote in MoveOn Poll TODAY!
Dear Friends,

Your efforts over the last few weeks to encourage MoveOn to poll its members about the New York Senate Democratic primary have succeeded! MoveOn sent out a poll TODAY in the Tasini vs. Clinton race.

If you're a MoveOn member, please check your inbox right NOW for a ballot from MoveOn and vote right away. The poll closes at 11:00 a.m. Friday.

Jonathan needs to get 66% of the vote to win the MoveOn endorsement. Please tell everyone you know who's a New York MoveOn member to check their email right NOW for a ballot from MoveOn, and ask them to vote for the progressive, anti-war Democrat Jonathan Tasini. Remind them that in addition to her vote for the Iraq war and continued support of the occupation, Hillary Clinton supports NAFTA and so-called free-trade agreements that are costing us jobs at home, that she sat on the board of Wal-Mart for six years, opposes single-payer health care, opposes same-sex marriage, and is the second largest recipient of lobbyist money right after Rick Santorum. Tell them that a vote for Jonathan Tasini is a vote to end the war, stop abusive corporate power, and provide Medicare for All.

We're delighted that MoveOn has been so responsive to its membership in sending out this poll. Please reply to them right away, and vote for what you believe in!

Thanks for all you do! We couldn't do it without you.

The primary is Sept. 12, so this will be too late to make much of a difference, even if Tasini does get the required 66 percent. Still, it will be an interesting measure of Hillary's problem or non-problem with the netroots. It's been my contention, so far, that Hillary's ability to avoid a serious primary challenge (as in a protest candidate such as Ned Lamont) shows that she can roll the netroots pretty easily.

Maybe I'm wrong. But I doubt they'll be much of an obstacle on her march to the nomination.

Sure, we have to put up with former President Jimmy Carter saying silly and ridiculous things all the time, but at least we don't have to live with George Galloway.

In case you missed it, here's a YouTube clip of the former British MP in Beirut earlier this week congratulating Hassan Nasrallah for a "historic victory" over Israel and declaring that Tony Blair did everything he could to "intensify" the suffering of the Lebanese people.

If that were not bad enough, today Galloway pens an op-ed for The Guardian in which he writes that Israel must accept a "comprehensive settlement" that includes the right of return for Palestinians, a contiguous Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem and "internationally guaranteed Palestinian control over its land, air, sea and water" - which is more or less a negotiated, less violent version of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vision of "wiping Israel off the map."

Galloway concludes by saying:

The Arab world is waking up to its potential power. It has seen the Iraqis confound Anglo-American efforts to recolonise their country, the unbreakability, whatever the cost, of the Palestinian resistance, and now the success of Hizbullah. If there is no settlement there can only be war, war and more war, until one day it is Tel Aviv which is on fire and the Israeli leaders' intransigence brings the whole state down on their heads. Nor is it only Israel that will pay the price for continued conflict: the enduring injustice of Palestinian dispossession has already poisoned western-Muslim relations and helped spill violence and hatred on to our own streets. There is still time to choose peace. But make no mistake, with the victory of Hizbullah, a terrible beauty is born.

This is reprehensible stuff, even by Galloway's standards. He needs a good drubbing - and I know just the person to give it to him.

Is it just me, or has the Lieberman campaign created some of the worst political ads in recent history?

This ad has also had the benefit of getting the Lieberman campaign into a ridiculous argument over whether the footage on screen is of a sunrise or a sunset.

As always, send nominations to:

ryan-at-realclearpolitics.com

Rich Lowry says the Dems are "being monumentally stupid in taking the bait of Rumsfeld's speech." He's right. Besides, the Dems don't need to respond to Rumsfeld, because their kindred spirits in the media - particularly on the editorial boards of major metro newspapers - are doing it for them.

For an admittedly less than comprehensive list, see today's editorials in the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Newsday, for starters. There's also William Arkin in the Washington Post, Fred Kaplan in Slate, and Dan Wasserman's cartoon in the Boston Globe.