Howard Fineman wants to remind readers that the “Judeo-Christian” phrase used by politicians isn’t really very Judeo. This excerpt of an interview with Howard Dean is from Newsweek, not a religious publication. I’m, surprised he didn’t ask, “How do reconcile that with having a Jewish wife and children?”

…

Q. Do you have a deadline for removing U.S. troops from Iraq?

A. Absolutely not. I think that would be a big mistake. To remove troops prematurely, Al Qaeda—which was not in Iraq, but is now—will set up shop in Iraq and present an enormous national-security danger.

Q. Do you see Jesus Christ as the son of God and believe in him as the route to salvation and eternal life?

A. I certainly see him as the son of God. I think whether I’m saved or not is not gonna be up to me.

Q. Do you have a favorite Bible passage or book or theologian?

A. I like the Book of Job.

Q. [Laughs] Does it strike you more personally after this campaign?

A. I’m feeling a little more Job-like recently.

Note that last line. Newsweek/MSNBC chooses to use a pull-quote that says:

’I’m Feeling Like Job’

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UPDATED: I added a link to the interview, and added the question before the Jesus one to show that it seems like a non-sequitur to suddenly ask about his belief in Jesus.

Feel free to email the editors and Newsweek and ask them about the propriety of theological questions for presidential candidates.

Franklin Einspruch, of artblog.net fame, has a new project: Artsfeed. It’s sort of a portal of weblogs that he watches (including mine!) that shows recent posts from all of those sites. It can take a little while to load, but it’s very handy.

A few juxtapositions, for your reading pleasure:

From the NY Times front page today (emphasis mine):

Administration officials say they are planning an extensive election-year initiative to promote marriage, especially among low-income couples, and they are weighing whether President Bush should promote the plan next week in his State of the Union address.

For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain “healthy marriages.”

…

The proposal is the type of relatively inexpensive but politically potent initiative that appeals to White House officials at a time when they are squeezed by growing federal budget deficits.

…

Dr. Horn said that federal money for marriage promotion would be available only to heterosexual couples. As a federal official, he said, he is bound by a 1996 statute, the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage for any program established by Congress. The law states, “The word `marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

But Dr. Horn said: “I don’t have any problem with the government providing support services to gay couples under other programs. If a gay couple had a child and they were poor, they might be eligible for food stamps or cash assistance.”

Via TalkLeft, some excerpts from testimony in Neil Bush’s divorce trial:

Bush: “I had sexual intercourse with perhaps three or four, I don’t remember the exact number, women, at different times. In Thailand once, I have a pretty clear recollection that there was one time in Thailand and in Hong Kong.”

Brown: “And you were married to Mrs. Bush?”

Bush: “Yes.”

Brown: “Is that where you caught the venereal diseases?”

Bush: “No.”

Brown: “Where did you catch those?”

Bush: “Diseases plural? I didn’t catch…”

Brown: “Well, I’m sorry. How … how many venereal diseases do you suffer from?”

Bush: “I’ve had one venereal disease.”

Brown: “Which was?”

Bush: “Herpes.”

Brown then interrogates Bush’s about his various sex partners:

“Did you pay them for that sex?”

Bush: “No, I did not.”

Brown: “Pick them up in a sushi house?”

Bush: “No. … My recollection is, where I can recall, they came to my room.”

Brown: “Do you know the name of that hotel? I may go to Thailand sometime.”

FY 2002 Federal spending for the National Endowment for the Arts: $95,835,000.

Brad DeLong, Ph .D. is reading Suskind’s The Price of Loyalty so you don’t have to. Go check out his weblog. It’s good to read commentary from a good economist on the book.

James and I just switched to AT&T, and got new phones.

I’m not used to holding it still yet. He was checking out his new phone when I took the picture.

As Pandagon tells us, the National Review is selling a college guide written by morality maven Bill Bennett.

Buy it for those you love so that they know what schools NOT to attend.

I meant to do this earlier, but I have added The Blogging of the President: 2004 to my blog links page.

Matt Stoller, of To The Point — he started blogging because of me! — has a great interview with an American reporter in Iraq.

Given the usual approach of the Bush regime to anyone who questions it, that could be their expected response to this report.

The Iraq invasion was “an unnecessary preventive war of choice” that has robbed resources and attention from the more critical fight against al Qaeda in a hopeless U.S. quest for absolute security, according to a study recently published by the U.S. Army War College.

The 56-page document written by Jeffrey Record, a veteran defense expert who serves as a visiting research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College, represents a blistering assessment of what President Bush calls the U.S. global war on terrorism.

…

Record urged U.S. leaders to refocus Bush’s broad war to target Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, and its allies. Record said the Iraq war was a detour from real anti-terrorism efforts.

Record criticized the Bush administration for lumping together al Qaeda and President Saddam Hussein’s Iraq “as a single, undifferentiated terrorist threat.”

“This was a strategic error of the first order because it ignored critical differences between the two in character, threat level and susceptibility to U.S. deterrence and military action,” Record wrote.

“The result has been an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq that has created a new front in the Middle East for Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda,” Record wrote.

This also seems like a good time to point out a story that most people seemed to have missed, since very few other news organizations picked it up after the NY Times reported it: U.S. Withdraws a Team of Weapons Hunters From Iraq.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 — The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment, according to senior government officials.

The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March.

A separate military team that specializes in disposing of chemical and biological weapons remains part of the 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group, which has been searching Iraq for more that seven months at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. But that team is “still waiting for something to dispose of,” said a survey group member.

Here is one of the scary drawings that Bush-backers claim was part of Iraq’s WMD program:

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not posting much political stuff lately. It’s all too absurd to write about. I just want to laugh or hide my head under a pillow.

What is wrong with this world? La Dolce Vita is not available on DVD?

My passport renewal has happened, and tickets have been purchased. We’re going to Mexico City for a week late January/early February.

Any art/food/other recommendations (we already have a hotel: the Camino Real, designed by Ricardo Legorreta) can be left as comments or e-mailed to me.

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UPDATED: I fixed the Camino Real link to get to a more specific page.