Cursor's Media Patrol - 10/09/06

Bad news in Iraq continues to roll in, amid growing speculation that the Baker commission will recommend "cutting and staying" in Iraq. Plus: Democrats warned about "what Baker is cooking up."

"It is as if the Bushes and Blairs do not live on this planet any more," writes Robert Fisk, incredulous at how oblivious they remain to the depth of anger their policies have generated, as 'the war room machinations of the White House' are compared to scenes out of "Desperate Housewives."

With support for GOP control of Congress 'crumbling,' according to Congressional Quarterly, and the New Jersey Senate Race growing more critical, the Republican candidate is repeatedly hammered for his ties to the president.

Contradicting the timeline issued by Speaker Hastert, a congressman acknowledges seeing Foley's inappropriate messages in 2000, a liaison with an ex-page comes to light, and attention increasingly focuses on "Foley's after-hours visit to the pages' dorm."

In the latest of a series of scandals to hit Sen. George Allen, an AP review of his financial dealings finds that he failed to disclose stock options, and a New York Times story suggesting that Republican incumbents like Allen are unlikely to suffer Foley "fallout" among conservative Christians appears to be "missing" something.

As a new Pew poll finds that 52% of American Pentecostals believe "the government should take special steps to make the U.S. a Christian country," the Times reports on how religion trumps regulation, and how legislative and judicial "safe havens ... shield religious employers of all faiths from most employee lawsuits."