Northern New York's NewzJunky.com (Update: and now Matt Drudge, too) has picked up our exclusive interview with Condolezza Rice in which she describes a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans opportunities given to whites at the country's founding.

One of our top stories this hour is Jon Ward's account of President Bush praising Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for taking on militia fighters in the southern part of Iraq.

Blogger Joel Rosenberg took notice of our piece showing Sen. John McCain's struggle to maintain the Christian vote.

We want your input as we analyze our collection of comics. We'd like to know which ones our readers like best.

Last, but not least, check out national political reporter Christina Bellantoni dishing on MSNBC about infighting within the Democratic Party.

— The Washington Times editors