Bad Times

As Ana mentioned earlier today, this has been a particularly bad week for an Administration that hasn't had many good ones in the past couple years. Nine U.S. soldiers died in Iraq yesterday. Hearings on Walter Reed Hospital and the fired U.S. Attorneys have made the administration look both insensitive to wounded veterans and dismissive of the idea that federal prosecutors should be given broad independence from political interference. And then the most powerful aide to the most power vice president in history was convicted on four counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements. And it's only Tuesday. I thought I heard a palpable sigh of relief emanating from the White House when the Dow closed up this afternoon. The recent market slide has been threatening the last best GOP talking point -- a relatively strong economy.