HARDLY WORKING. In addition to ignorance of basic facts about Iraq noted by Ezra below, in the most recent debate Mitt Romney defended his flip-flop on "don't ask don't tell," arguing that, "It's been the policy now in the military for what, 10, 15 years, and it seems to be working. And I agree with what Mayor Giuliani said: that this is not the time to put in place a major change, a social experiment, in the middle of a war going on." What does he mean by "working?" Apparently, it means firing an extremely scarce Arabic translator because he's gay, even though he didn't publicly disclose his sexuality. So, if you define an effective policy as one that prioritizes bigotry over national security, I would urge you to vote Republican in '08. --Scott Lemieux