Cracks in the facade, indeed. First, the Army is sent in against former American Idol contestant Ahmad Chalabi (aka, the new Justin Guarini--he seemed to have it all, but then he turned out to be just another huckster singing yesterday's songs) . Looks like the Republicans are becoming a bit unglued, too. Check out the sniping between Senator John McCain and Reprasentative Dennis Hastert. Serve to you, Mr. McCain:

"Throughout our history, wartime has been a time of sacrifice. ... What have we sacrificed?" McCain said. "As mind-boggling as expanding Medicare has been, nothing tops my confusion for cutting taxes during wartime. I don't remember ever in the history of warfare when we cut taxes."

Volley to you Mr. Hastert:

"If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda (two Washington area military hospitals). There's the sacrifice in this country. We're trying to make sure that they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. "

And an overhead smash opportunity to Mr. McCain:

"The speaker is correct in that nothing we are called upon to do comes close to matching the heroism of our troops," he said. "All we're called upon to do is not spend our nation into bankruptcy while our soldiers risk their lives. I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility."

15-love to Mr. McCain.

Now, it looks like the Republicans have a new congressional whip by the name of George W. Bush--I'm sure he'll put it right.