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the zeitgeist checklist: What Washington is talking about.

Zeitgeist Checklist: Karl Rove Rap EditionWhat Washington is talking about this week.

By Christopher Beam
Posted Friday, March 30, 2007, at 5:52 PM ET

1. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 6 [SAME]

Fire Department
Law. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spends the week trying to put out fires, but someone has filled the hose with butane. Gonzales sits down with NBC in order to "be more precise" (read: equivocate some more) about his supposed noninvolvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. His former chief of staff, testifying before the Senate judiciary committee, gets a little too precise and explicitly contradicts his former boss's account. Aides to Gonzales remove all shoelaces and belts from his office.

2. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 3 [UP ARROW]

War Chest Thumping
Congress. The battle between Congress and President Bush escalates as the Senate narrowly passes an Iraq funding bill that would withdraw troops by the end of March 2008. Bush chides Senate Democrats for attaching strings to the war money; Dems accuse Bush, who plans to veto the bill, of delaying funding for troops—childish bickering that gives new meaning to next week's "recess."

3. Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 21 [UP ARROW]

Re-run
2008. Buzz builds around Arthur "Fred Thompson" Branch, the ubiquitous Law & Order star who once worked in the Senate or something. Branch, er, Thompson hasn't announced his candidacy yet, but he's already leading Mitt Romney in the polls. That gap will shrink, however, when America finds out about Thompson's early-career appearance on Roseanne.

4. Last Week: 8 Weeks on List: 2 [UP ARROW]

Glock and Spiel
Crime. An aide to Sen. Jim Webb is arrested for carrying a loaded gun and extra ammunition into a Senate building. Webb, a former expert marksman who openly flaunts his gun license, denies giving his aide the gun and blames the incident on him. In another downright criminal act, Karl Rove participates in an ill-advised rap performance at the Washington radio and television correspondents' dinner. (Watch it and you'll understand why Jim Webb carries a gun.) John McCain considers recording a dis track  about Giuliani.

5. New This Week [UP ARROW]

War of the Google Maps
Middle East. After Iran seized 15 British soldiers in what it claims were Iranian waters, Prime Minister Tony Blair freezes relations with Iran. Iran demands that Britain admit it was wrong. Blair refuses, insisting the soldiers were 1.7 miles within Iraqi waters. The U.N. Security Council declares its "grave concern" over the cartographic dispute. Analysts agree this is the lamest hostage crisis ever.

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Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.
Illustrations by Vivian Selbo.
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