Yes, there was a Republican debate yesterday. Don't worry if you missed it; the candidates were all predictable enough that it doesn't get top billing today. What is on top: House Democrats are trying to fix the Protect America Act and its blanket authorization of warrantless wiretaps on American citizens in two very different ways.

In the wake of a week that saw the vetoing of SCHIP and the reporting of campaign fundraising totals for the quarter, this week's Mailbag is low on the yuks and high on the political discussion.

First Dick Cheney was part of the executive branch. Then he was part of the legislative branch too. Then he was neither. Now, he's just... well, where is he?

Breaking news: a bill passed the House yesterday that Bush may not veto. Maybe.

Hey, look at that — Josh got himself some fan mail! Apparently he's on informal greeting terms with Barack — er, I mean, Senator Obama. Who'd have guessed?

Iraq was a popular topic in the news yesterday, but the coverage seemed to have a different underlying message than we're used to. No longer are we hearing about what was or wasn't done, about our successes or failure; now what we're hearing is that we really just don't know what's going on.

Senator Hillary Clinton stole the headlines yesterday by unveiling her universal health insurance program — though to say that response was positive would be perhaps a bit of an overstatement.

Hey, have I mentioned that General Petraeus is reporting to Congress on the Iraq conflict? I can't recall.

It is no surprise that yesterday's news cycle was filled to the brim with information on General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker's congressional report. What may be surprising is the lack of media consistency in presenting the story.

Another Friday, another Mailbag. I have the funny feeling that Josh's verbosity in his answers is starting to rub off...