AND PETRAEUS GOETH. Ezra's post titled "Petraeus Cometh" noted the obvious problems in this game about how to define the Iraq casualty figures so that the surge will look like working: the Iraqis will not make the same kind of fine-tuning when observing and experiencing violence in their own lives, and it is their experience which will finally determine whether the surge works or not.

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. Keith Olbermann's Special Comments offer a fascinating echo of Edward R. Murrow's eloquent news reports. At the same time, Olbermann's passionate voice is something that has long been missing on the liberal or progressive side of the political media. He talks unabashedly about values, many of them clearly progressive ones, in a climate where the term "values" is still used as shorthand for conservative sexual morals.