A few notes on the upcoming week at the site.

First, the annoying pledge drive image is gone. Due to a last-minute donation flurry, we reached over three-fourths of our total goal. Woo hoo! For this, I am humbled and grateful to everyone who donated, as it was more than I hoped for. Thanks to all of you again.

The donation page is still up and running, but will not be updated further. If you'd like to make a donation at any time, just click on the "Donate" button on the top right of any page, and you can use a credit card or PayPal account to do so.

I will be flying tomorrow, so there will be nothing new here until Monday. Monday morning I have a pre-loaded column which is a repeat, but (I think) most appropriate. Then, later in the day Monday, I will start posting when I can, most likely in late afternoons or evenings.

I promise to report on everything I can get to while I'm in our Nation's Capital. Tune in Monday through Wednesday for our Inauguration coverage!

"I am not a number. I am a free man!"
-- Patrick McGoohan, "The Prisoner"

What a strange week it was. In the waning days of President Bush's term in office, we lost -- in one week -- talented artists from Patrick McGoohan to Ricardo Montalban to Andrew Wyeth. Planes are landing in rivers. The Associated Press put out one of the most bizarre articles I've ever seen, unearthing the "lazy black" stereotype from the grave of history, where it rightfully belongs (the article's title: "Some blacks choose Obama inauguration over work"). George Bush is still delusionally happy in his bubble. And Washington, D.C. is preparing for a siege of Obamamaniacs.

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I waited to write today's column until President Bush had given his final primetime address to the American people. You know what? It wasn't worth the wait.

I had planned on writing a critical analysis of his speech, but I have to admit I just can't do it. I've been writing about Bush for two and a half years now, and I simply cannot bring myself to do it one last time. Because it is a largely pointless exercise. Bush's view of reality is so far removed from what an average person sees that it is useless to point it out one last time. Everybody, by this point, either believes the man is deluded, or still agrees with him 100%. Think about it -- no matter how low his poll numbers got, Bush kept a core of about one person in four who approved of the job the man was doing. They're not going to change their minds, in other words, and the rest of us are simply tired of trying.

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Are you one of those people who wants to see what has been done in your name by the outgoing Bush administration? Are you frustrated by all the "we need to look forward, not backward" language from Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders? Well, now you can do something about it, by calling up your House member today and telling them to support John Conyers' H.R.104, a bill to "establish a national commission on presidential war powers and civil liberties."

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Maybe I should re-think that title. After all, when Richard Nixon said "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more," it was in 1962 -- long before his stunning political comeback. But since we have the Twenty-Second Amendment and Bush has already done his time in office, I think I'll be pretty safe when I say that left-wing bloggers (and comedians and political cartoonists everywhere) are starting to feel a little... empty... looking towards a future without George Bush in it.

Bush, if nothing else, was a perpetual fount of things to both laugh at and excoriate him for. And, in some odd "Stockholm Syndrome" kind of way, my guess is that on one level (providing easy material), we're going to miss him.

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President George Bush gave his final press conference today. Lest I be accused of "Bush Derangement Syndrome," I'm reproducing some of the most interesting answers Bush gave today, with a minimum of snarky commentary. Actually, what I (and many others) have would properly be called "Bush Fatigue," as even his final week in office seems somehow endless. But I think it's worth taking one last peek inside Bush's thinking because it is so interesting to hear how his views of his term in office differ so significantly from the way others see him. If you'd like to read the entire transcript of the press release, the White House website has it up.

Bush started out by joshing around with the reporters, proving he still retains his sense of humor:

PRESIDENT BUSH: Through it all, it's been -- I have respected you. Sometimes didn't like the stories that you wrote or reported on. Sometimes you misunderestimated me. But always the relationship I have felt has been professional. And I appreciate it.

I appreciate -- I do appreciate working with you. My friends say, what is it like to deal with the press corps? I said, these are just people trying to do the best they possibly can.

And so here at the last press conference, I'm interested in answering some of your questions. But mostly I'm interested in saying thank you for the job.

Note that "misunderestimated" in there.

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What a week! With Congress back in session, with the excitement of newly-elected members being sworn in (or barred at the door, as the case may be), and with the ever-increasing anticipation of the inauguration, Washington was in a tizzy all week. Larry Flynt apparently asked Congress for a $5 billion bailout of the porn industry and it barely made the news, because there was so much else going on. That's the kind of week it was.

This week's Talking Points segment is a special one, for all the incoming Democratic members of Congress. I've called it Democratic assertiveness training, but it could also be called "how to talk like you are in power" as well. It's a new dawn, and Democrats should reflect this in how they speak of just about any issue under the sun.

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I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Howard Dean for all he has done to resuscitate the Democratic Party. Dean is stepping down soon as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (Obama announced his successor today), after steering the party through the 2006 and the 2008 elections.

That's really the best way to mark his tenure as DNC head -- since results speak louder than words. And the results in both 2006 and 2008 where not just impressive, they were overwhelming. When Dean took over at the start of 2005, Democrats were in the minority in both houses of Congress, and Bush had just been elected to his second term. Dean leaves behind, as his legacy, enormous majorities in both the House and Senate, and a Democrat entering the White House.

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Want a ticket to the official Inauguration Day swearing-in event held on public property? Well, you can easily have one -- guaranteed -- for the low, low price of only $12,500. [To be completely honest, that price is much like how airline's advertise "one-way based on roundtrip purchase" fares that don't actually exist -- since you have to "donate" a whopping $50,000 for four guaranteed tickets.] But wait! It's a package deal! You also get, for your hard-earned dollars, bleacher seats to watch the Inaugural Parade, tickets to at least one of the Inaugural Balls the Obamas will actually attend, and other sundry perks and goodies. What a deal, eh?

At least the official Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC) is being transparent about this. They not only openly advertised this package deal, but they also have posted the list of big donors on their web site for all to see. You can check it out to see exactly who has ponied up the fifty large so far. Hollywood celebrities such as Halle Berry, Steven Spielberg, and Tom Hanks have paid up, as well as too many corporate CEOs to list here (from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Levi Strauss, Qualcomm, ExxonMobil, Sony BMG, Coca Cola, and others). Almost 400 folks have already bought the premium package as of this writing. The San Jose Mercury News recently ran a story of the most prominent San Francisco Bay Area donors, just to highlight a few examples.

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The American television news media is slipping out of Iraq, as quietly as they can. This story was reported by the New York Times over the holidays, and it may prove to be a consequential part of the way the war ends. Because it might actually make it easier for President Obama to wind the war down, and avoid a lot of squabbling over how he does so.

The story is, at its core, that there is no story. At least not in Iraq anymore. The Iraq war, as far as the television news media is concerned, is no longer all that "newsworthy." In other words, boring. Barring some flareup or some special event, Americans are tired of hearing about Iraq, and tired of seeing it on their television screens. At least that's the way the news media sees it, and so the media are cutting their losses on a story which they feel their audience isn't interested in, and are moving their assets elsewhere.

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