A Dem With Praise for the GOP

And now the most interesting two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

A Dem With Praise for the GOP

Democrat Andrew Cuomo -- the former Clinton housing secretary and son of ex-New York Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo (search) -- says his party is -- "lost in time" and appears "bloodless, soulless and clueless."

Cuomo, in a new book called Crossroads: The future of American Politics, goes on to praise President Bush and Republicans for -- "recognizing the challenge of 9/11 and rising to it."

Democrats, he says, -- "fumbled the seminal moment of our lives ... We handled 9/11 like it was a debate over a highway bill instead of a matter of people's lives."

Lieberman In Need of New Venue?

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman's (search) popularity continues to sink in key election states, but a new national poll shows that, among Democratic college students, Lieberman is number one, with 17 percent saying they would vote for him if the primaries were held today. Howard Dean (search) comes in a very close second, followed by Wesley Clark and then Al Sharpton.

Where Are the Transcripts?

The speech excerpts on NBC last week portraying Lt. Gen. William Boykin (search) as an intolerant, religious zealot were furnished by William Arkin, a columnist for the L.A. Times and a consultant for NBC. In addition to the excerpts on tape, Arkin says he has transcripts of Boykin's full remarks. But despite promises to release those transcripts, Arkin has declined to do so.

For the record, before the L.A. Times, Arkin worked for the Institute for Policy Studies -- a self-described "progressive think tank" run by, among others, outspoken war critic Harry Belafonte. And for Greenpeace -- the militant environmental group. And for Human Rights Watch -- the vehemently anti-war organization.

A New Caucus

There's the Congressional Black Caucus. There's the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And now...there's the Congressional French Caucus. New York Republican Congressman Amo Houghton -- who chairs the  caucus -- says -- "It's no secret that relations between the United States and France have been less than ideal lately. The purpose here is to ... clear up misunderstandings between our two great nations."

Houghton -- whose multi-millionaire father was an ambassador to France under Dwight Eisenhower (search) -- says he has successfully recruited 29 congressmen and senators, including Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney -- the man who made the House cafeteria serve only "freedom fries."