One may quibble about details, but, after just over two months in office, no one with any sense of history, politics, or the management of the apparently unmanageable can fault the active engagement, hard work, intelligence and eloquence of the new President and his team of hard-pressed, hit-the-ground-running, get-the-job-done appointees.

Which brings us, of course, to Dick, W and friends, Rush, John, Sarah, and what remains of their gaggle of hapless accolytes in the House, Senate, and Bloviocracy.

Poor Dick. Still pale and peckish from his sojourn in the great undisclosed, he crawls into the light to, of all things, publicly defend, and in the process, publicly admit to facilitating, torture and other war crimes.

He's probably not planning any vacations in Spain, given the Spanish National Court's movement toward indicting the former Vice President, and assorted other torture-justification toadies, including "Fredo" Gonzales, "Doug" Feith, David Addington, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and William Haynes. Of course, the New York Times could be wrong, and the Spanish investigations could come to naught, and pigs may fly.

W continues to misspeak the truth to power, maintaining that history will judge him kindly, and that, through his forthcoming memoirs, he himself will provide one of the (and I'm not kidding here) "authoritarian" voices on the subject. (Next, he call for global youthinization)

Rush, of course, repositions himself from hapless comedian to apostle of boundless hope . . . though, this time, its hope for failure.

John emerges from his slumbers to call for tax cuts.

Sarah emerges from the wilderness to blame John.

And everyone else in the GOP blames anyone, everyone, and each other for whatever most recent embarrassing failure or misspatement springs to mind.

Even those we believed were among the best of the GOP crowd in the House and Senate, our own Frank Wolf among them, seem desperate, and in desperation, fall into ragged line, all too often parroting failed, mean-spirited and discredited talking points to justify a pointless and self-destructive never-ending "opposition."

Then there's Lancet, the Pope, AIDS, and stem-cell research . . . and the depression. But those are other stories.