Correction: In Friday's post, I stated that lying on my back on a sidewalk in Manhattan was a first for me. That is incorrect. I should have said it was the first time I was lying on my back on a sidewalk in Manhattan while sober.

This is the kind of weekend that must drive BoSox fans completely over the wall...er...Green Monster.

*****

Elisabeth Bumiller writes in from Crawford in her "White House Letter:"

"He [President Bush] is also not accustomed to taking second billing, as was evident on Wednesday, when a reporter made the mistake of refering to the California race as 'the biggest political story in the country' during an otherwise sleepy mini news conference focused on the economy.

"'It is the biggest political story in the country?' the president retorted, irritated. 'That's interesting. That says a lot. That speaks volumes.'

"'You don't agree?' the reporter said.

"'I don't get to decide the biggest political story,' Mr. Bush said, grumpily. 'You decide the biggest political story. But I find it interesting that that is the biggest political story in the country, as you just said.'

"Another reporter jumped in, 'You don't think it should be?'

"The president replied: 'Oh, I think there's maybe other political stories. Isn't there, like, a presidential race coming up?'

"Mr. Schwarzenegger's entry also pushed Mr. Bush into saying for the first time that he is engaged in politicking for 2004, a way-off message admission. When asked if he was 'going to do anything for Arnold,' Mr. Bush replied, 'I'm going to campaign for George W., as you know.'"

I won't comment on that except to note that he's speaking of himself in the third person. Only sport star jerks and the insane (sometimes one in the same) do that.

Okay, I will comment after all: What an ass.

Speaking of such. The Boston Globes Sunday Ideas page has an interesting defense of DARPA, the folks who tried to give us Total Information Awareness and, more recently, the terrorist futures market. I don't disagree, though in previous posts I have questioned the efficacy of a futures market that depends on criminals and is run by, essentially, the cops. Nevertheless, as creepy as it often is, the military-industrial-academic complex has brought us good things. For every Agent Orange, there's the Internet, GPS, and kevlar. No, the problem at DARPA is not that weird scientists are coming up with weird ideas that might or might not turn into something useful. The problem is John Poindexter and the Bush admin's habits of hiring the convicted and the corrupt [thanks to TAPPED for the link] to important (though under the radar, usually) jobs. Poindexter is a convicted felon (yeah, yeah, thrown out due to Reagan-appointed judges...er...technicalities), whose disregard for the Constitution should, like convicted hackers who aren't allowed to touch a computer while on parole, make him ineligible to work in government. Next, Bush will put Oliver North in charge of the White House archives.

Interesting coincidence. Both Jeff Colvin and Walter Kirn focus on the real job loss story in this recession -- the flight of white collar jobs and the declining middle class in the country. How do democrats frame and capitalize on middle class economic anxiety (it's real, I can vouch for that)? More importantly, does anyone have a plan to stem this that doesn't involve economic isolationism?