Even Lily Tomlin would gag. The danger in trying to say anything nice about the Bush White House was once nicely summarized by the political philosopher Lily Tomlin: "No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." Yesterday I posted an item about the happy irony of George W. Bush's top two foreign-policy aides, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, who are both African-American, disagreeing over affirmative action.

Within hours I heard from reader MG, who pointed me to a truly disheartening item that had appeared last week in TNR &c., the New Republic's political weblog. Remember that Washington Post story reporting that Rice had taken a lead role in shaping Bush's anti-affirmative-action decision? &c. recounts a Post follow-up reporting that the White House had dragged Rice's name into it, apparently without her permission or even her knowledge, in order to give themselves political cover (scroll down; don't read this on a full stomach).

Rice and Powell's disagreement seems legitimate, but this kind of sleazy maneuvering isn't.