Good News all around!

Good morning everyone. Let's start our day off with a double helping of good news.

From ABC:

The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.

Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured in Mosul on July 4, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.

"Al-Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the al-Qaida in Iraq network," Bergner said. He said al-Mashhadani was a close associate of Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Bergner said al-Mashhadani served as an intermediary between al-Masri and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

Notice how the bastard is already giving up information. Does anyone out there who isn't a moonbat care how they got the son-of-a-bitch to talk?

Anyone?

[crickets chirping]

Didn't think so.

Next we have this report on the latest Zogby poll from NewsMax:

. . . [F]ormer Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, as yet a non-candidate, has climbed to the top of the GOP leaderboard, winning 22 percent support, compared to 21 percent for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remains in third place with 11 percent. Arizona Sen. John McCain continues his dramatic slide, from second place in late May to fourth place now, supported by 9 percent of likely Republican voters nationwide.

Thompson’s strongest appeal comes from those who consider themselves to be "very conservative,” as 35 percent in that group said they favored the former Tennessee Senator-turned-actor. Giuliani finished a distant third in that group, followed by Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. McCain finishes fifth among very conservative voters.

Among mainline conservatives - the largest subgroup of GOP voters - Giuliani wins 21 percent, compared to 20 percent for Thompson, 13 percent for Romney, and 12 percent for McCain.

Zogby is the best polling organization out there and for Thompson to be at the top of the Zogby poll means that he is genuinely in the lead.

I also note that McCain is continuing to sink. I really wish he would spare himself any more embarrassment and withdraw with some dignity. Now that there is no longer any danger of him ever becoming president I feel somewhat sorry for him. He has been steadfast in supporting the war effort and for that he deserves some respect. Let him focus on rebuilding his Senate career and leave the presidential race to those who can actually win.

Zogby has some other amusing tidbits about the Democrat side as well:

Clinton has also maintained her base of support among moderates, while expanding her support among progressives to 36 percent, up from 31 percent two months ago. Her backing among progressives appears to come out of Obama’s liberal base, as he has slipped from 35 percent to 27 percent in that group.

We should stop here to translate. In modern political-speak "moderate" means Left-Liberal and "progressive" means "Crazy as a Shithouse Rat Barking Moonbat who thinks that 9/11 was an inside job and wishes the USSR was still around".

It also seems that the Breck Girl is losing support among younger voters. This is very bad news for him in that young voters were thought to be the only significant group stupid enough to vote for him in any large numbers. After all it was young voters who formed the core of support for Howard Dean and if they were that brain-dead, the thinking in the Edwards camp went, they would probably be willing to vote for a multi-millionaire who lives in a giant mansion, flies around on private jets, gets $1200.00 haircuts and is running on a poverty platform.