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On Sunday, Liz Cheney took a brief hiatus from her preposterous charge that "President Obama is contributing to the isolation of Israel, and sending a clear signal to the Turkish-Syrian-Iranian axis that their methods for ostracizing Israel will succeed." In a rare moment of candor, Cheney temporarily withdrew her fangs to acknowledge her father's boss was largely responsible for Hamas' domination of Gaza. Which is exactly right. After all, before Bush's failed covert action in support of Fatah led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza, his administration never anticipated the terrorist group's earlier victory at the polls, one which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted, "nobody saw it coming."

Vice President Cheney's daughter and former Bush State Department official admitted as much. In an exchange with Arianna Huffington and Jake Tapper on ABC's This Week, Liz Cheney claimed the January 2006 elections pushed by the Bush administration were a mistake:

HUFFINGTON: The Hamas government is a terrorist organization. Nobody's saying anything contrary to that. The Hamas government is a terrorist organization that won an election, an election that Bush, Cheney and Condi Rice encouraged to happen.

TAPPER: ...[To Cheney] You were at the State Department in 2005 and 2006 when these elections were pushed forward and some people were saying, "don't do it, they're not ready for it." Do you think that was a mistake in retrospect?

CHENEY: I do. I don't think they were ready for it. I don't think we should have pushed it.

That's easy to say now, given the catastrophe that unfolded in the Palestinian territories under her father's watch.

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This is an interesting piece on how the Gaza war has actually strengthened Hamas in the Palestinian political hierarchy.

Continuing with my recognition of the intrepid bloggers who filled in so ably while I was away...
Politics in the Zeros: Money for nothin', chicks for free

Lance Mannion: If Democrats think that Hussein and Muslim and madrassa and black are dirty words, just think what fun the Republicans are going to have with them.

Shakesville: Liss has some reading recommendations.

The Largest Minority: The Palestinians are still under occupation, so throwing $7 billion at the corrupt Fatah government won't change anything.

Over at Steve Audio's place, we're reminded it's not just the week before Christmas.

Media Bloodhound: Big news for democracy aint big news at the Paper of Record.

The redoubtable Blue Gal--the blogosphere's answer to Chone Figgins--shares about her breakfast with Santa and 71 Kindergarten kids.

by Dore Gold
THE PROSPECTS FOR NEGOTIATIONS IN THE POST-ARAFAT ERA

Some highlights:

Abu Mazen succeeded Arafat as chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization and is the Fatah faction's candidate to become the next
Palestinian Authority chairman. Abu Mazen has become known for his
conclusion that the Palestinian reliance on violence as a political tool was
a tactical mistake. However, on issues of policy he is extremely close to
Arafat.

In 2001, Abu Mazen admitted, "Had the Camp David summit been convened again,
we would have taken the same position" on the permanent status issues

What emerges from the foregoing analysis is that a
full-blown, final status peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians is
probably more remote today than five years ago.

read The Bushies new Groove

"The Bush administration has started its second act, and it is striking how different this one feels."

He started off the second term by saying that Social Security is bust. Nothing like good old fear tactics to get the juices flowing and scaring the crap out of seniors. Reminiscent of something from the first act. Weapons of mass destruction and mushroom clouds. Feels the same to me.

"The administration has certainly not forgotten the Middle East. Mahmoud Abbas is doing a great job, everybody says. "

A political rally by the militant Palestinian group Hamas turned violent Saturday, as supporters of the rival Fatah faction opened fire, sparking a melee that left more than 25 people wounded, a Palestinian official said.

"The foreign policy of the Bush officials is beginning to sound more like compassionate conservatism all the time.To win the war of ideology against radical Islam, they want to put much more emphasis on global trade."

Did Brooks listen to the Inaugural speech? I thought he talked about destroying tyranny, and spreading democracy not global trade in an effort to make America safe against said ideology.

Anyway, I'm too sick to continue.