In today's story on Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's plan to pull troops out of Iraq, former Sen. John Edwards said that Obama's proposal is similar to President Bush's, saying the pace of withdrawal moves too slowly and sounds too much like the Army General David H. Petreaus' plan to withdraw 30,000 troops by July.

"Taking credit for this gradual withdrawal is like taking credit for gravity," Mr. Edwards said. "These 30,000 troops would have to be withdrawn anyway, unless the president extended tours to an unconscionable 18 months."

But that's not exactly accurate.

The Pentagon says there are currently 20 combat brigades in Iraq -- each with 3,500 or 4,500 troops. Mr. Obama plans to get the troops out at a rate of 1 to 2 brigades each month, preferably two, over the next 15 months, starting today and ending in December 2008.

At the lower end, 3,500 troops leaving each month for the next 15 months is 52,500 troops -- about a third of the 160,000 troops currently in Iraq. At two brigades a month it's 105,000 by December 2008, plus the 30,000 Mr. Edwards said are coming home anyway.

Granted, Mr. Obama's plan will not get all of the troops out by the end of 2008 (or 20 days before he would take office if elected). But it is a lot more than the 30,000 Mr. Edwards is claiming.

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times

In light of Idaho's senior Republican Sen. Larry Craig's quick-fast guilty plea to disorderly conduct that cost him his seat in three months, let's compare how a Democrat is dealing with his legal troubles.

Rep. William Jefferson , Louisiana Democrat, staved off an indictment for six months by challenging the FBI's raid on his Capitol Hill office, which he won, and secured him an opportunity to win another term last November.

The next move is to stymie the start of his trial, and here Jefferson is playing it perfectly, yet again.

His attorneys have argued for a change of venue, filing several motions stating that, "Since the center of gravity of the entire case is in Washington, D.C., and not the Eastern District of Virginia, the case should be transferred there."

"For 6 of the 16 counts, Virginia is not a permissible venue at all," Mr. Jefferson's lawyers argued.

No secret agenda here. Jefferson wants a jury pool from the District because he knows he can get some African Americans on the jury who are sympathetic to a black politician caught in an FBI raid, and to the first black man from Louisiana elected to Congress since the Reconstruction era of the 1860s and 1870s.

"Most important, bringing the case in a venue where it does not belong has resulted in a markedly different racial composition of the jury pool. This gives rise to concerns that the prosecutors deliberately exercised their discretion to choose a forum on the basis of race," the lawyers said.

The defense wants all of the Justice Department and FBI's to produce all of its internal memos concerning the choice of venue to ensure that race did not play a part in the decision.

The defense also moved to dismiss the bribery charges and related counts since the government has not alleged that Mr. Jefferson agreed to perform any official acts or to make any official decisions in exchange for the $100,000 an FBI undercover agent gave him.

"This case is about private business activities. The indictment does not charge that Mr. Jefferson obtained any earmarks or appropriations, or that he worked to pass any legislation for the companies involved -- the government only charges that he 'used his position' to promote businesses in which he had an interest. This legal challenge goes to the heart of the government's case," the defense argues in addition they are trying to have any evidence siezed in Mr. Jefferson's home thrown out because they claim the FBI photographed documents outside of the search criteria of the warrant.

All total, the defense filed 14 motions today.

A colleague of mine said Republicans never seem able to survive scandal. Maybe they just need better legal advice.

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times

In Durham, N.C., today, disgraced former District Attorney Mike Nifong reported for a brief (but symbolically important, we're told) 24-hour term behind bars.

In the Duke rape case, Nifong showed how a rogue prosecutor can ruin lives. Now some folks say something similar is unfolding in Jena, La., a small town of about 3,000 in the northeast section of the state.

The case centers around Jena High School and a shade tree in the center of the courtyard.

For years, only white students sat under the tree at lunch. Then, about this time last year, Sept. 1, a black student asked the assistant principal and other faculty members during an assembly if he could sit under the tree and was promptly told to "sit where ever he liked."

The next day the student did, and the day after three hangman's nooses appeared on the tree.

That lit the fuse.

Outraged black students tried to stage peaceful protests, but fights broke out on and off the school grounds.

LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, asked to speak to a school assembly as part of the effort to defuse the situation, told students to stop making trouble as he could end their lives "with the stroke of a pen."

But tensions boiled over in December, when six black students beat Justin Barker, a white student, who fell during the attack, hit his head and suffered a concussion. Barker was treated and released that day, but the prosecutor in Jena decided to charge the boys who would become known as the "Jena Six" with attempted murder.

So far, only one of the "Jena Six," Mycheal Bell, has been convicted (by an all-white jury, on charges of battery and conspiracy to commit battery). He is to be sentenced on Sept. 20, when he could face a maximum sentence of almost 23 years.

After what happened at Duke, people in Jena and people around the country following the case are asking why would a prosecutor issue a threat like Walters did? Was his comment aimed at black students specifically?

Yes, fights at school are reprehensible, but what purpose could possibly be served by charging these teen-agers with attempted murder?

And if Mike Nifong's questionable and inflammatory statements against the innocent white Duke lacrosse players led to his disbarment, doesn't Mr. Walters owe the defendents, the town and the rest of the country an explanation for his comments?

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee asks that question in its new online video.

The ad features seven Republicans -- including Idaho Sen. Larry Craig -- who have been involved in sex-related scandals over the past two years. It also notes that House Republican leader John Boehner had once boasted that his party "owns the moral high ground."

Democrats were supposed to have learned their lesson on this one in 2006.

Last year FBI agents found $90,000 of a $100,000 bribe in the home freezer of Rep. William Jefferson, Louisiana Democrat.

In addition, the FBI last year began investigating the investments of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, West Virginia Democrat, who had been accused of funneling federal funds to nonprofits he helped operate. Mollohan was forced to give up his seat on -- wait for it -- the ethics committee.

A Democrat congressman told me at the time: "You never shout too loud about corruption and morality because it will always affect both sides of the aisle." How soon they forget.

Here's the ad:

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times

Several financial gurus have praised President Bush's effort to stem the bleeding market from the deep cuts incurred by subprime mortgage lenders and dirty-dealing real estate investors.

I'll try to make this simple. A lot of speculators took out loans for homes with the expectation of making a quick profit on the equity when they resold the properties in a booming real estate market. When the market fell, the equity vanished and the speculators defaulted on their mortagages.

Bush wants these guys to pay their debts while he cuts off their avenues to refinancing by denying them insurance through the Federal Housing Authority. He also aims to help average homeowners by granting them the insurance if they are credit worthy.

Here is where the policy falls flat, according to some mortgage lenders:

"Bush says that FHA is going to help insure people who are credit worthy and you can't be credit worthy if you are in bankruptcy or close to it and certainly not if you are in foreclosure," said Mike Watson, a local mortgage lender. "I have at least four cases on my desk that can't qualify for FHA insurance right now."

What are the eligibility requirements? From the HUD Web site:

* The mortgage loan is funded by a mortgage company, bank or savings and loan association, and the mortgage is insured by HUD.
* It must be the borrower's primary residence.
* The borrower must meet standard FHA credit qualifications.
* The borrower is eligible for approximately 97% financing. The borrower is able to finance the upfront mortgage insurance premium into the mortgage. The borrower will also be responsible for paying an annual premium.
* Eligible properties are one-to-four unit structures.

Mr. Watson said the credit industry is slowly raising the bar for worthiness. "What [Bush] has said has no effect on people with credit scores between 400 and 500 and doesn't help anybody else because you have to have a 600 score or better to get a Chapter 13 bankruptcy or buyout loan."

" A good credit score is about 720 right now. When just a few months ago, it was 640 and months before that 600, and that is what happened when the market got shook up," Mr. Watson said.

For Mr. Bush's plan to work, he said, the Federal Reserve will have to lower the interest rate or the credit industry will have to lower the credit worthy score, which is unlikely.

In addition, the impact of the "crisis" has to be weighed against the fact that subprime lending accounts for only 4 percent of the total mortgage lending market, he said.

We'll find out what the Fed decides on Sept. 18.

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times