When Willie S. said "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" he was really dishing out some great political advice

1) Britney and Paris and Barack, Oh My! Dear McC: Since when did defining your opponent turn into a drunken round of "Hey, let's throw spaghetti at the wall and see how much sticks!" Two weeks back you were in danger of becoming the Maytag Repairman of Politics 2008. Now you're morphing into what, exactly?

2) What passes for political wisdom these days: A really bad idea making the rounds in Washington - using the 1980 presidential race as a "template" to understand this year's dynamic. Why? Because one candidate talks real good? Rather, imagine what YouTube would have done with candidate Reagan and then just drop the whole discussion.

3) Groovy new political catchphrase of the week (use it twice and impress your friends): Marty Kaplan, (yes, for those of you who lived through the '80s) quoted in the NYT [8-1-08]: "Both sides believe there is something called the master narrative. Yes, there is an abundance of voices and sources trying to influence that master narrative. But it does finally get set, and once it's set, it's virtually impossible to change. So everyone is doing their best to stop the master narrative from setting in a way that disadvantages their side....It's all in play right now." Dude! You're sitting on my master narrative!

4) Don't call it a comeback! Dan Quayle on "Dancing with the Stars?" Since when did a network have to float the concept of a contestant performing on a game show? Is he that controversial? Do we remember who he is?

5) Call us when your ship lands: Newt Gingrich on Hannity & Colmes [7-31-08] suggesting that Obama take a couple of weeks off from campaigning. Because he's on TV too much and people are seeing too much of him. And in Newt's head this is a bad thing. And he wasn't smiling when he said this. Because he was serious.

6) Candidate Alert! Check out House candidate Allen West, retired Army Lt. Col., running against freshman Dem. Rep. Ron Klein in Florida 22. West thinks that when a booker from Al Jazeera's English-language channel called to schedule him for an interview it was really a terror plot to kidnap him [NY Daily News 7-28-08]. Way to get some press attention Allen, takin' a page out of the Ross Perot playbook. ["The VC were trying to disrupt my daughter's birthday party. Dressed in black pajamas coming across my front lawn, I tell ya."]

7) Chuck Hagel as the new Joe Lieberman: "I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives and when we start to get into 'You're less patriotic than me. I'm more patriotic.'" [CBS's "Face the Nation" 8-27-08] Now can he speak at the Democratic convention?

8) Hey, even Strom knew when to turn the lights out: Just-turned-89-years-old Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau says he intends to run for a 10th four-year term. "If I broke both my legs I might not run, but if I broke one, I would run," said Morgy [Daily News 8-31-08].

9) My seat! My seat! A deck and a new grill for my seat! Did anyone notice that even before the indictment Ted Stevens was trailing Mark Begich 50-45. And now it's what, 50-35? Yikes! I'm sure it was all worth it.

10) When there were "Wise Men" Writing in his column this week [7-27-08] David Broder recalled Democratic insider James H. Rowe Jr. and his opinion of why U.S. Senators should not be eligible for the office of president: "The reason is that senators don't know how to run anything. Their staffs have to tell them what to do. They walk around with little slips of paper in their pocket saying, 'Call so-and-so,' or 'Remember to talk to so-and-so."