Powell's work with Nixon's Office of Management and Budget brought Powell to the attention of senior Nixon aides, Frank Carlucci and Caspar Weinberger, who soon became Powell's mentors
When Ronald Reagan swept to victory in 1980, Powell's allies -- Weinberger and Carlucci -- took over the Defense Department as secretary of defense and deputy secretary of defense, respectively.

Tuesday's deadly clash between Pakistani forces and local tribespeople marks the first time in the last several operations, when Pakistani troops came down forcefully in South Waziristan, that they have been humiliated by the tribals - along with the Islamic militants who have already converged in the area and view the situation as a holy war.

It is not only Taiwan's presidential election on Saturday that has raised tensions on the island and drawn the attention of Beijing, Washington and other powerful capitals. It is also the controversial referendum - scheduled for the same day - on whether Taiwan should upgrade its defenses against targeted Chinese missiles and whether it should open negotiations with China on improving relations, under the right circumstances.

Bush has flip-flopped at least as often as Kerry (give him bonus points for doing it in a shorter period of time, though). But he is escaping the same scrutiny because in the cheap novelization of the campaign offered by the press, if there's one flip-flopper (or liar, or dumb guy) there can't be two.

While we're on the subject of the press finding its inner watchdog, let's be clear about why the number one GOP talking point in the last 20 years ? other than "It's Clinton's Fault" ? is "Blame the Liberal Media:" They're bullying reporters so the press won't expose their mendacity.

You see this most depressingly in the timidity of the New York Times, which might as well be a Gannett paper these days. Since the upheavals following the Jayson Blair fiasco the Paper of Record has committed both errors of omission (shying away from stories like the Plame leak and the bogus Iraqi WMD claims that led to it) and commission (bowing to conservative charges of bias by patronizingly establishing a "conservative beat"). The Grey Lady's new motto should be "All the News They Let Us Print."

Over the years Castellanos has produced a trail of caustic ads either pulled off the air, like the Bush spot in Florida, or judged by his own Republican clients to be too misleading or biting for public consumption. Yet today, because of his expertise at the negative, he has been given a central role in the Bush campaign.

Castellanos is also not above spreading disinformation. In 2002, trying to turn the Enron scandal against the Democrats, Castellanos appeared on CNN and ABC, insisting that Enron CEO Ken Lay had slept in the Lincoln Bedroom at the invitation of President Clinton. The tale was reported far and wide, but it was completely false.

In 1988, Castellanos was recruited for the Bush/Quayle '88 media team by senior media consultant Roger Ailes, now president of the Fox News Channel. Castellanos' most infamous spot commercial came two years later, the legendary "White Hands" ad he produced in the closing days of Helms' reelection campaign.