ST. PAUL -- One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.

The informal prohibition, which had been occasionally threatened by political ads in recent years, was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 CST, when a video aired before delegates at the Republican National Convention included slow-motion footage of a plane striking the World Trade Center, the towers' subsequent collapse, and smoke emerging from the Pentagon.

At the same time, Kennedy knows how to be a partisan better than any other Democrat alive. When he was not cajoling Republicans into backing surprisingly progressive regulation, he was brilliantly outplaying them. He relentlessly pursued a hike in the minimum wage, until enough Republicans were shamed into supporting it. Kennedy worked hand in glove with Labor Secretary Bob Reich, over the objections of more conservative members of the Clinton administration, to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act.

But poor Warner. What a day to be struck with aphasia. Up there on that stage, before tens of thousands of eager Democrats, he forgot John McCain's name! So attendees and viewers alike heard a lot about the importance of the future, and parsed a lot of vague allusions to "outdated thinking" and politicians "stuck in the past." What they didn't hear was that John McCain is the politician of the past. While Warner spoke of the dream of an "administration that believes in science," he didn't see the need to mention that Obama is running against a politician who thinks tax cuts raise revenues. When Warner encouraged delegates to dream of a world in which "all children have access to health care," he forgot to mention that John McCain had voted against expanding S-CHIP.

WASHINGTON — It started as a routine conference call. But at some point during the call, Representative Anthony D. Weiner became furious, convinced that his scheduler had not given him a crucial piece of information.

His scheduler, John J. Graff, who was in the next room, suddenly heard the congressman yelling at him through the wall.

Then, Mr. Graff recalled, Mr. Weiner started pounding his fists on his desk, kicked a chair and unleashed a string of expletives.

Two weeks later, Mr. Graff, a Navy veteran, became the latest of a sizable number of staff members who have resigned after an abbreviated stint with Mr. Weiner, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

“I push people pretty hard,” said Mr. Weiner, who acknowledged getting upset at Mr. Graff. “And there are, from time to time, staffers who don’t take to it or just don’t like being pushed that hard. But I really regretted him leaving. He was a marine. I’m like, ‘How bad is this?’ It’s even worse than boot camp.”

To our friends in Texas and our speakers, sponsors, attendees and volunteers, we can't thank you enough for helping make Netroots Nation 2008 a huge success. We're already in planning mode for our next gathering.

On Saturday night, we announced that Netroots Nation 2009 will be held in Pittsburgh, PA, August 13-16. Registration is already open, so reserve your spot now!.

When the Pittsburgh-based musician who calls himself Girl Talk announced that his new collection of songs, “Feed the Animals,” would be released on a pay-what-you-want download basis, it didn’t get quite the same level of attention that Radiohead got when that band did the same thing last October.

Heaven Hill recently spent nearly $4 million boosting capacity 50 percent at its distillery in Louisville, where it makes Evan Williams and Elijah Craig bourbons.

The following schools are where the gang decides to go to college.

* Zack - Yale University
* Slater - University of Iowa (on a wrestling scholarship)
* Screech - University of California, Berkeley
o Also accepted to Clemson, Duke, USC, Princeton, Emerson, but not to an all-women's school, his first choice
* Jessie - Columbia University
o Rejected from Harvard, Yale
* Lisa - Fashion Institute of Technology
* Kelly - An unnamed California community college. In one promotional photograph, she is seen wearing a CSUN sweater (i.e., Cal State Northridge)
* Tori - Never specified on the show, but in the above-mentioned promotional photograph, she is seen wearing a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sweater.

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle said Clinton's pitch to superdelegates has been that she can win the popular vote, but that was undercut when Obama netted more than 200,000 popular votes in the Tuesday contests.

"The math just got very tough for her after last night," Doyle said. "I think most of us out of respect for her are content to wait a little longer. ... The absolute best way for this to end is for the candidates to end it, not the superdelegates. That's the ending we all dream about every night."