Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Pelosi Calls Out President Bush

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is calling on the president to immediately declare that the U.S. will start bearing the costs of evacuating its citizens from Lebanon, instead of charging them, saying, "A nation that can provide more than $300 billion for a war in Iraq can provide the money to get its people out of Lebanon."

But the policy requiring citizens to pay commercial fare plus a dollar for government evacuation was encoded in the 2003 Foreign Relations Authorization Act. That law was approved by the House and the Democrat controlled Senate in 2002. Pelosi herself voted for the measure.

Israel 'A Mistake'?

Liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote Tuesday that the "greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake." Cohen blames the creation of Israel for a century of warfare in the Middle East, including the present conflict.

And while he says there's "no point in condemning Hezbollah... [or] Hamas," Cohen argues that Israel should exercise restraint — writing that retaking Lebanon and Gaza would lead to world condemnation of "the inevitable sins of an occupying power." His solution?

Cohen says Israel should pull back, withdraw from the West Bank, and accept terrorism and rocket attacks, while "waiting (and hoping) that history will get distracted and move on to something else," adding, "It is best for Israel to hunker down."

Money Matters

Liberal Connecticut Senate challenger Ned Lamont outraised and outspent Democratic incumbent Joe Lieberman by $600,000 over the past two months — but that's not necessarily an indication of his grassroots support in his home state. Lamont contributed $1.1 million of his own money to his campaign, and what's more, the Stamford Advocate reports that 70 percent of donors to Lamont's campaign are from out of state.

The list includes anti-war Hollywood stars Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, and Rosie O'Donnell, musician Jackson Browne, and billionaire liberal activist George Soros.

Drastic Times, Drastic Measures

Faced with weaker than expected earnings — and a stock price that's half of what it was four years ago — The New York Times has announced it will cut the paper's width from 54 inches to 48, and cut 250 printing jobs. The new cost-cutting plan will shave 5 percent off of the space devoted to news coverage — and save the paper about $42 million a year.

Executive Editor Bill Keller said less space would require tighter editing, but called the move a "much less painful way to go about assuring our economic survival than cutting staff or closing foreign bureaus."

—FOX News Channel's Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.