"Welcome to Washington," or, as Mr. Sinatra once said of another burg of hopes and dreams, "This town is a make-you-town, or a break-you-town..."

1) Somewhere, Lyndon is smiling: Writing in his WSJ column [4/2] Karl Rove reveals that he somehow thinks the term "new politics" doesn't include the word "politics." Rove is in a dither about the AP-reported anecdote in which Pres. Ob pulled Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio aside in a "closed door" meeting and said, "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother." DeFazio had voted against the administration's stimulus bill. C'mon Karl, you know that keeping score is what this is all about.

2) People who give this town a bad name: The WP's too lengthy Style section profile of LegiStorm website creator Jock Friedly [4/2] waited until the very end to inadvertently reveal why this misguided soul thinks it's essential for the fate of the Republic that everyone in America know the salaries of every employee in Congress (along with their home addresses, info on their investments and what their spouses do for a living). Says Friedly, "Washington dirties people. They come to Capitol Hill wide-eyed and wanting to do the public good. Washington changes them." Hey, Elliot Ness, why don't you spend your time going after real crooks, like say the Sinaloa drug cartel? Let us know how it turns out.

3) Go Johnny Go: Having to explain yet again just what it is our members of Congress do, Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district. My job as a member of Congress is to make sure that we take care of what we see is necessary. Not the bureaucrats who are unelected over there in whatever White House, whether it's Republican or Democrat. Those bureaucrats would like to control everything. Every president would like to have all the power and not have Congress change anything. But we're closest to the people." Murtha was responding in part to having been branded "One of the most corrupt members of Congress" by the "watchdog group" Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who, at last count, has yet to get a highway paved or a bridge repaired.

4) What passes for political commentary these days: After making fun of the fact that Pres. Ob's Kenyan immigrant aunt (whose deportation has been delayed for a year) walks with a limp and a cane, cable talk show host Glenn Beck proceeded to instruct his listeners thus: "Don't hate Mexicans!" Ahh, Father Coughlin for the twitter generation.

5) Things they forget to teach you in political science class: A report released by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (and written by eleven pollsters and academics) concluded that that the polling that erroneously predicted that Sen. Barack Obama would win the 2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary was wrong because the pollsters stopped surveying voters too early and thus did not capture last-minute changes in voter opinions. Oh, and yes, the fact that Hillary's name was near the top of the ballot and Barack's down towards the bottom may have had something to do with it too. Ballot position, people!

6) Madam, your black helicopter awaits! Although it's old news, we cannot overlook Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann's ramblings on the March 25th edition of the Sean Hannity radio program in which she said: "Right now I'm a member of Congress. And I believe that my job here is to be a foreign correspondent, reporting from enemy lines." Illustrating once again that the difference between an opinion and an informed opinion is sometimes a gulf too insurmountable for some folks to cross.

7) Most insightful political reporting of the last two weeks: WSJ reporter Susan Davis, profiling the lay of the land for Sen. Arlen Specter's 2010 reelection fight [3/23], rightly points out that the central problem for the incumbent will be the GOP primary fight. After Democrats succeeded in getting 239,000 Republicans and independents to switch parties in order to vote in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary last spring, Specter now faces a smaller, much more conservative pool of voters for the 2010 GOP primary election. Facing a likely rematch from Club for Growth's Pat Toomey as well as perennial wingnut Peg Luksik, Specter really has to get a lot of folks to decide to become registered Republicans again, "even for just one day."

8) Meet the new GOP leadership: Bemoaning the Democrats' budget, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin opined: "We are spending like drunken sailors. Wait, I apologize to the drunken sailors of America for that comment." Paul, the joke been used like a thousand times by McC and look where it got him. It's over. It's like talking about Nintendo. Plus, for it to work you really have to have served in the U.S. Navy yourself.

9) Okay GOP, Newt basically says it's over: Former Speaker Gingrich: "If the Republicans can't break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012." Quick, get me Admiral Stockdale!

10) Argentine Pres. Raul Alfonsin, R.I.P.: Raul Alfonsin, who upon being elected President of Argentina in 1983, led the investigation and ordered the prosecution of the military figures responsible for the murders of thousands during that country's dark days of dictatorship, has died at age 82. According to his WP obit, an Argentine Supreme Court Judge wrote last fall, "All of those who are holding a public post aspire to be able to walk in the streets afterwards without any problem. Alfonsin is the only ex-president who can walk the streets at ease." And, in the end, isn't that also what this is all about?