Have I ever told you readers how great I think Google News is? I love the idea of an algorithmically edited news service. Anyway, this afternoon’s edition randomly places two stories on top of each other: Major Figures from Watergate Scandal Die, and Senior Pro-Taliban Cleric Killed in Pakistani Port City

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The second story is about an Islamist imam from Pakistan, once part of a group which had urged Mullah Omar of the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden to the Americans in late September 2001.

[Nizamuddin] Shamzai was sympathetic to the Taliban, but bristled at some pronouncements made by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, particularly a statement saying he admired the people who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. “It’s wrong to kill innocent people,” Shamzai said at the time.

He had changed his position recently, and was now advocating a holy war against the U.S. after their invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Shamzai was a perfect example of how our actions have radicalized Muslims all over the world. At any rate, he was gunned down with his family in Karachi today.

The first story is that Archibald Cox, the victim of the Saturday Night Massacre back in Watergate, and Samuel Dash, the former chief counsel to the Senatorial Watergate Committee, both died Saturday. I always think it’s a shame when two admirable political figures die on the same day like this, because then they have to share billing in the obit stories. I suppose it doesn’t matter to them at this point.

The juxtaposition of the two got me wondering if we will ever see a replay of the Watergate scenario (something else I’ve noticed is that none of Bush II’s scandals get suffixed with “-gate,” unlike Clintons… I wonder why). The worst thing I could imagine is that he wins the election in the Electoral College again (you know it can happen, especially with the new Congressional redistricting), and then gets impeached for one thing or another. Then we get Cheney. I shudder to think.