President Bush:

"The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy," he said. "Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice."

From, Spencer Ackerman, Bhutto friend and advisor Husain Haqqani:

A longtime adviser and close friend of assassinated Pakistani ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto places blame for Bhutto's death squarely on the shoulders of U.S.-supported dictator Pervez Musharraf. . . . "There is only one possibility: the security establishment and Musharraf are complicit, either by negligence or design. That is the most important thing. She's not the first political leader killed, since Musharraf took power, by the security forces." Haqqani notes that Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck. "It's like a hit, not a regular suicide bombing," he says. "It's quite clear that someone who considers himself Pakistan's Godfather has a very different attitude toward human life than you and I do."

Nawaz Sharif:

Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif today described Benazir Bhutto's assassination as the most tragic incident in the history of Pakistan. . . ."We both were struggling for the same cause, and we had signed the charter of democracy," Sharif told a TV channel. . . . Sharif told Bhutto's supporters that he would fight "your war from now on", and that he shared the grief of "the entire nation".

I predict Musharraf will cancel the elections schedlued for 12 days from today.

Here, and a nasty piece of work it is:

The daughter of one of Pakistan’s most flamboyant and democratically inclined prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto, 54, served two turbulent tenures of her own in that post. A deeply polarizing figure, she lived in exile in London for years with corruption charges hanging over her head before returning home this fall to present herself as the answer to her nation’s trouble.

. . . A woman of grand ambitions and a taste for complex political maneuvering, Ms. Bhutto, 54, was long the leader of the country’s largest opposition political party, founded by her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Even from exile, her leadership was firm, and when she returned, she proclaimed herself a tribune of democracy, leading rallies in opposition to Mr. Musharraf, like the one at which she died.

. . . Her record in power, and the dance of veils she has deftly performed since her return — one moment standing up to General Musharraf, then next seeming to accommodate him, and never quite revealing her actual intentions — stirred as much distrust as hope among Pakistanis.

(Emphasis supplied.) More . . .

A tragic and alarming event:

An attack on a political rally killed the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto near the capital, Islamabad, Thursday. Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto was fired upon before the blast, and an official from her party said Ms. Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker.

The NYTimes story is incredibly negative towards Ms. Bhutto and has little analysis of what this means for Pakistan, surely the more important story from the US perspective. A very strange story indeed. WaPo has this:

Bhutto's death is a devastating development, coming 12 days before Pakistanis are set to vote in national parliamentary elections already marked by enormous political turmoil. President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in November -- a move which he said was to combat terrorism, but which was widely perceived as an effort to stave off legal challenges to his authority. U.S. military officials said last week that the terrorist group al-Qaeda increasingly is focusing its efforts in Pakistan.

Al Qaida and the Pakistan intelligence services have had a longstanding relationship since the days when Pakistan was the only ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government's dealmaking with Al Qaida is also a matter of public record. Who is behind this and why is the question of the moment. As well as what does it mean for Pakistan and the United States. Pakistan's er, spotty, record in fighting Al Qaida and the Taliban, its coddling of known nuclear arms merchant A.Q. Khan and its de facto theft of US funding for fighting Al Qaida for other purposes makes this a critical moment for the US. Unfortunately, we have the worst President in history leading the worst Administration in history at the present time. This is bad.

The Rocky Mountain News today begins a three part series on the road to the Iowa Caucuses.

Part One, Slugfest to the Caucuses, examines the Republicans and the rise of Huckabee.

Tomorrow will feature the Democrats, in an article that examines "how a leaked memorandum and a long-forgotten decision raised the stakes for the first contest on the long, long road to the Democratic National Convention in Denver." (Another hint: the article asks "what if" about a forgotten turning point from back in May.)

On Saturday, the final segment of the series tackles the question, Why Iowa?

What did these folks do to get all this power? And what is the power? As we've learned in about 17,000 miles of driving down the back roads to the White House, it's the power to make future presidents beg.

The series is written by ME Sprengelmeyer, who has spent the last eight months in Iowa for the Rocky following the caucuses in Back Roads to the White House.

This, via Greg Sargent, will shock you:

TV election news has been hardest on Hillary Clinton this fall, while Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee have been the biggest media favorites, according to a new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University...

As I have argued, Obama's being a Media darling is a GOOD thing for the Obama campaign and a good reason to support him, all else being equal.

The non-partisan Justice Project has a new policy paper (pdf) on jailhouse snitch testimony, one of the top causes of wrongful convictions. From the press release:

The use of jailhouse snitch testimony has been widely used throughout the American criminal justice system. Unfortunately jailhouse snitches are often utilized by prosecutors despite their testimony being widely regarded as the least reliable form of evidence in the criminal justice system. A 2005 study of 111 death row exonerees found that 51 were wrongly sentenced to death in part due to testimony of witnesses with incentive to lie.

More...

Sixty percent of all executions in 2007 were performed in Texas. Elsewhere, the number of executions dropped.

Of the 42 executions in the last year, 26 were in Texas. The remaining 16 were spread across nine other states, none of which executed more than three people. Many legal experts say the trend will probably continue.

One law professor predicts in the not too distant future, all executions will be Texecutions. Perhaps he's right as New Jersey and other states are beginning to see the light.

There do seem to be slight stirrings suggesting that other states might follow New Jersey. Two state legislative bodies — the House in New Mexico and the Senate in Montana — passed bills to abolish capital punishment, and in Nebraska, the unicameral legislature came within one vote of doing so.

If you haven't checked out the Texas Department of Criminal Justice death page recently, it's here. Last meals are no longer listed -- instead you can read the last statements of those put to death.

The NYTimes today runs a curious story that seems intended to debunk Hillary Clinton's claim of experience based on her time as First Lady. The gist is:

In seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton lays claim to two traits nearly every day: strength and experience. . . . She has cast herself, instead, as a first lady like no other: a full partner to her husband in his administration, and, she says, all the stronger and more experienced for her “eight years with a front-row seat on history.” Her rivals scoff at the idea that her background gives her any special qualifications for the presidency. Senator Barack Obama has especially questioned “what experiences she’s claiming” as first lady, noting that the job is not the same as being a cabinet member, much less president.

Obama's claim seems strange to me. As I understand it, Hillary's claim is that she was the principal, and importantly, final advisor to Bill Clinton on all his major decisions. The story seems to confirm the claim, and certainly Bill Clinton has as well:

. . . [S]he was more of a sounding board than a policy maker, who learned through osmosis rather than decision-making, and who grew gradually more comfortable with the use of military power. . . . [S]he acted as adviser, analyst, devil’s advocate, problem-solver and gut check for her husband, and that she has an intuitive sense of how brutal the job can be. What is clear, she and others say, is that Mr. Clinton often consulted her, and that Mrs. Clinton gained experience that Mr. Obama, John Edwards and every other candidate lack — indeed, that most incoming presidents did not have. “In the end, she was the last court of appeal for him when he was making a decision,” said Mickey Kantor, a close Clinton friend who served as trade representative and commerce secretary. “I would be surprised if there was any major decision he made that she didn’t weigh in on.”

This sounds right to me and it is what I understand Hillary's claim of experience as First Lady entails. It makes this type of comment perplexing to me:

I watched the documentary Giuliani Time last night. It chronicles Rudy's years as Mayor of New York.

The film nicely debunks the perception that he was responsible for the drop in New York City's crime rate and adequately establishes that "Broken Windows" policing has never been shown to reduce serious crime.

It does a great job of explaining his misguided welfare policy. He called it a work for jobs program but it failed to train people for real jobs and instead made them work for their welfare payment at menial jobs without wages and with no hope of a job or advancement or skills at the end of the term. His policy ended up increasing the number of homeless (he shuttled them into shelters or the outlying boroughs to make it appear to tourists and Manhattan residents they had decreased in number)and it forced some who were attending school to drop out and sweep streets in order not to lose their financial assistance. At the same time his administration doled out corporate welfare by the millions.

The film also adeptly and accurately, in my view, portrays Rudy's atrocious record on civil liberties, from busting the homeless, squeegee men and turnstile jumpers to authorizing massive stop and frisk policies that targeted minorities on the flimsy justification they were going to confiscate weapons, to his frequently overturned first amendment crackdowns.

More...

Merry Christmas everyone. It's been snowing all night in Denver -- we've got 4 to 8 inches on tap by evening with treacherous driving conditions -- a good day to stay home and keep a fire going while Christmas dinner is in the oven. And, of course, check the blogs and news.

Here's a cheery Christmas video for you, Darlene Love on David Letterman, Christmas, Baby Please Come Home (hat tip to Dan at 5280.com.)

How's your day going so far?

Things are looking up at a juvenile detention center in Chicago, thanks to an order transfering authority from Cook County to the court.

The... children and teenagers, most of whom are awaiting trial, will have the chance to spend 12 hours a day, for 12 days, playing games: chess, basketball, even competing in a spelling bee, instead of watching endless hours of daytime television and missing home.

In addition to gifts outside their cell doors,

Today, teens hang blinking lights, sparkly garland and ornaments as they compete for best window display and a pizza party reward. Staff members try to make sure that every child gets a call from family on Christmas Eve. In turn, kids are given cards to send home. And good behavior is rewarded with microwaveable White Castle hamburgers.

The changes are the work of court-appointed national juvenile expert, Earl Dunlap:

The power of the key has turned into the power of due process," he said.