Colin Powell recently spoke to ABC News and defended W’s authorization of the warrantless wiretapping. He didn’t completely back the administration, but he said just enough to make us feel a little better.

Bring back some memories?

It’s interesting that none of the major political pundits have attributed the President’s 2005 slide to the massive figure who had left the building.

Even after the Iraq has weapons UN speech, Colin Powell was by far the most popular and trusted person associated with the Bush administration and that popularity easily stretched across the aisle.

A scandal would emerge, the microphones would be shoved into Powell’s face, and he would assure us that all was fine. And that always seemed to cool things off. It wasn’t that he always agreed with the neocons and other nuts. But he gave the public a sense that, yeah, these guys are qualified for the job and are not completely out of control.

This year, there was no Powell and things were anything but fine. The President suffered a dramatic drop in the polls. Was the slide due only to Powell’s absence? Of course not. This was a rough year for W. But many of the areas where he received criticism (Iraq, for instance) really weren’t all that difference from years past.

And do you really think the adminstration would’ve taken the same hit on Katrina had Powell been by the President’s side in the New Orleans?

In the same ABC interview, Powell split from Bush on the Iraq sans WMDs question: “You have a far more difficult case, and I’m not sure you can make the case in the absence of those stockpiles.” These differences of opinion (and Powell’s reasoned thinking) are why Powell had to go. But his departure has greatly hurt the Bush team. Powell out of spotlight created a vacuum that has been filled by the likes of Rove and Libby and that’s bad for PR.

Colin Powell served as protective shield during W’s first term. His absence left Team Bush completely unprotected in ways they hadn’t anticipated and they, like many of us, now understand the unique sway that Powell holds in the mind of the public (even after the administration did everything they could to hamstring him).

All this is why the internal power players on Bush team now, at least on some level, understand all too well why Colin Powell is the Person of the Year.

Here are Cheney’s remarks on the eavesdropping scandal:

Either we’re serious about fighting the war on terror or we’re not. Either we believe that there are individuals out there doing everything they can to try to launch more attacks, to try to get ever deadlier weapons to use against, or we don’t. The President and I believe very deeply that there’s a hell of a threat, that it’s there for anybody who wants to look at it. And that our obligation and responsibility given our job is to do everything in our power to defeat the terrorists. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

But if there’s anything improper or inappropriate in that, my guess is that the vast majority of the American people support that, support what we’re doing. They believe we ought to be doing it, and so if there’s a backlash pending, I think the backlash is going to be against those who are suggesting somehow that we shouldn’t take these steps in order to protect the country.

Agree with the policy?

OK, maybe not.

What about the political analysis?

Canada has removed a ban on ‘swingers’ clubs making the north country safe for group sex once again.

From the decision:

“Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society.”

The ban was lifted by a 7-2 margin. I wonder during deliberations if the 7 in the majorty ever considered putting their ruling to the test. Words like “vigorous” rarely emerge randomly. Besides, if you’ve already got the facility and the robes…

A federal judge has resigned in a protest related the to the Bush surveillance spy program:

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush’s secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John D. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court’s work.

This latest scandal will require kid gloves by the Dems. The key is to focus on the un-needed abuse of power and to avoid grand pronouncements about law enforcement overstepping bounds.

Most Americans are cool with torture and warrant-free eavesdropping if it’s couched in the idea protecting us from the bad guys. That’s why Bush is being so overly aggressive in his defiant defense of the program. He sees it as a road back up the approval trail, not another wound.

But people do not like those in power to go above, below and around the law. That is where the focus needs to be. Visualize the constitution being violated, not the rights of suspected terrorists.

A federal judge blasted the backers of Intelligent Design and ordered it out of the curriculum of Penn schools. The judge repeatedly called the ID movement what it is. Religion masquerading as science.

Intelligent Design has never been anything more than a cheap marketing ploy with strategies (a fancy name that uses words opposite of the program’s goals, a faux grassroots movement, a lot of Founding Fathers talk, etc) ripped from page one of GOP Luntzian playbook.

What’s disturbing is that the movement got this far in Pennsylvania and will undoubtedly gain even more traction elsewhere.

We are going back in time in this country. Isn’t that just what the Intelligent Design fanatics want? Evoulution itself is in reverse…

The millions of bus takers and underground travelers in the Apple have come out into the light only to find unprecendented gridlock on the streets of New York.

For many people, the only alternative to their trusted subway commutes is to walk. Luckily it’s only pretty cold in NY today. Of course, this is just day one of the strike.

Here’s the very latest on the transit strike from top NY media outlets.