You know you did it.
I know you did it.
I know because I did it too.
We sat there on the lap of our political Santa Claus and asked for the gift we all wanted most.  
A Christmas crash by Hillary Clinton.
A meltdown so monumental it would fill Democratic stockings with the ashes of her once invincible presidential campaign.
Mixed in nicely with the ashes of meltdowns past like Howard Dean and Gary Hart.
And as we look north to the polls it seems Santa is delivering on our Christmas wish.
Hillary's dropping as fast and as certain as Jolly Old Elf himself dropping down a chimney.
Polls in Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond  have Hillary in a sudden and startling free-fall, and Barrack Obama taking the reins of the Dem Christmas sleigh.
Sounds like a true Christmas miracle for those of us who have a recurring nightmare about  America in another Clinton presidency.
But as with many things in life you really have to careful what you wish for.
Hillary in trouble is great.
But the alternative to Hillary might not be so great.
At least not for the Republicans, or for America.
If Hillary rallies, gets her political legs back under her and wins the Dems presidential nomination she faces a huge hill to climb in the general election.
A hill maybe as big as Mount Everest ( That hill Sir Edmund Hillary climbed a few years AFTER Hillary was born eventhough she once claimed her parents named her in his honor).
She still has negatives consistently clocking in around 50%. She still has enough baggage to snap a sky cap's spine. And she's still herself. 
Caustic, controlling and cold. And about as genuine as a one of those spam e-mails about getting a few million for helping out some African prince who needs your bank account number to claim his inheritence.
And she's also still Bill's wife. Saddled with the no-win reality of needing him to campaign and charm the left-wing base she herself cannot, but always fearing what toxic time bomb Bill might drop while he's hyping her --- and of course himself --- out on the campaign trail.
So facing a candidate as flawed as Hillary might be the best race the Republicans can hope for.
She might be the more beatable of the two top Dem options.
If Hillary doesn't rally then fades back into the Senate where she can continue being the non-entity she's been since arriving on Capitol Hill.
And the Dems will send their young, smiling and shining knight into the '08 battle.
Sir Barrack the Beloved.
Champion of those crying out for change. Never mind that he really has yet to define what kind of change he means. Just change.
And many Americans just like the sound of change. Change is good. Change will be different. Change will be a change after eight years each Clintons and a dozen of Bushes.
Change is Barrack Obama's currency. And enough change could buy his ticket to the White House.
Change and a vague message that could sound and look good to some voters a bit blinded by Barrack's megawatt smile.
So as Obama charges into the Democratic primary lead keep all these factors in mind.
They're part of the reason why Hillary could well be much easier to beat than Barrack.
And why as Hillary's fall might be making our Christmas wish come we also get a stark reminder.
Be careful what you wish for.
            

It's a White House tradition.
Every year they trot out a fat white turkey on the White House lawn.
And every year whoever happens to be President trots out to issue a "Presidenial Pardon" sparing the bird's life just before Thanksgiving.
It's a harmless if hokey tradition.
At least it always has been until this year.
This year it just seems strange and troubling, and very much out of place.
Because this year when President Bush hands out his poultry pardon some of us will be thinking about the real pardon he has not issued.
The real pardon he should be granting this holiday season.
The pardon that would finally free imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol guards Ignacio Ramos and Jorge Compean.
Silly make believe pardons for turkeys have always been part of a President's gig.
A public display of political playfulness that's designed to lighten the mood and humanize the President.
But that was then, and this is now.
And on the minds and in the hearts of millions of us weighs heavily the idea, the hope of a pardon --- a real Presidential pardon --- for the two agents sent to federal prison for basically doing their job.
Ramos and Compean shot a Mexican drug smuggler.
A man they knew had smuggled lots of illegal drugs into America in the past, and who they caught in the act of smuggling in lots more.
A man who ran from them when they tried to arrest him, and who made a threatening move toward the two agents.
Federal prosecutors say the agents tried to conceal and cover up evidence following the shooting.
That's why Ramos and Compean were convicted and sent to prison.
That's why they still sit inside the prison bars of a government they put their lives on the line to serve and defend.
Clearly the agents did something wrong by trying to cover up some evidence.
But knowing now what prosecution and persecution they've faced can you really blame them?
And the minor gunshot wound the drug mule received was in fact so minor he's since resumed his border bustin', drug smugglin' ways and been arrested again since the Ramos-Compean incident.
He could get time behind bars, but the agents have already been serving their time.
Already paid an unthinkable and terrible price for doing their job.
Did they do it perfectly?
An honest and impartial assessment must concede they did not.
But did they do the job criminally wrong?
Same assessment should say no.
These men are not criminals.
They're not law breakin', hard core low-life scum.
But they now sit in near-solitary confinement in the federal prisons we've bought and paid for to house the low-lifes. Sent to do hard time among the very kind of criminals they fought to capture and confine.
They now sit alone and, at least by some, forgotten.
Casualties of a border battle where the rules of engagement more and more favor bad guys on the wrong side of our laws and our borders.
Forgotten?
Sadly, when it comes time for the President to throw around the word "pardon" at turkey time, it seems he and his Justice Department have forgotten Ignacio Ramos and Jorge Compean.
So while the President is play acting the pardon this year there will truly be a sad and ironic cloud hanging over the White House lawn.
The parody  "pardon" will get all the ink and the TV news video clips.
The real pardon that should be on the President's mind will almost surely get no attention.
The real pardon the President should be issuing will be lost in the swirl of silliness.
And Ignacio Ramos and Jorge Compean will spend their Thanksgiving alone and locked up, away from their families and facing a future in prison.
But hey, at least that turkey will be free!
Now that is a real turkey of an idea, Mr. President.