December is usually a quiet time for politics.

Congress adjourns, the President is forced to eat crow (in the case of this year, at least), and very little of consequence happens. But this year is ending with a blast of news, starting with the health of Sen. Tim Johnson and the impending trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

There’s also the withdrawals of would-be Presidential Candidates Bill Frist and Evan Bayh before the calendar even hits 2007, and rampant speculation that Barack Obama might be ready to run. John McCain and Hillary Clinton (pictured) are expected to officially launch their candidacies next week… as are many, many others.

That said, let’s take a look back at five defining moments of 2006, a year marked by a disastrous Iraq war… not to mention pages, hunting accidents, racial slurs and the (im)potency of blogging. It’s no surprise, considering this year’s mid-term election results, that most of these events did not end well for Republicans.

5. Paging Mark Foley!
First, Tom DeLay had to step down. That scandal was bad enough for the GOP, but even they couldn’t have foreseen a member of Congress getting caught seducing young male assistants, or “pages” via lewd text messages.

Florida Congressman Mark Foley immediately resigned, blamed his drinking problem and - what else - a predatory priest who molested him when he was younger. That didn’t the GOP from having to explain why they missed the warning signs about the six-term congressman’s odd behavior.

Foley lost the GOP another safe seat in Florida and was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as the public’s discontent with the GOP leadership. What began with the destruction of Jack Abramoff’s vile empire ended with raunchy text messages to underage boys. Democrats picked up more than 30 seats in the House of Representatives.

4. Welcome to America, Macaca
Outgoing U.S. Senator George Allen of Virginia (below) was a favorite among right-wingers who praised his party-line stances and easy-going charm. He was a lock for re-election and a rumored contender for the presidency.

It all unraveled when a young Indian- American man, working for his opponent, Democrat Jim Webb, heckled him during a campaign appearance.

Calling him by the name “macaca,” Allen welcomed him to America. On tape.

If anything was more embarrassing than his use of antiquated racial slurs, it was the puzzling, seemingly insincere denials Allen made about his remarks - claiming, among other things, that he was only referring to the young man’s hair - as well as his past use of racial slurs.

Things went from bad to worse, as he tumbled in the court of public opinion and lost a squeaker to Webb in November. Stunning.

3. The Rise and Fall of the Blog; The Fall and Rise of Joe Lieberman
Here today, gone tomorrow. Just three months after claiming their biggest victory, the left wing blogosphere suffered its biggest defeat - to the same candidate.

Bloggers heralded political newcomer Ned Lamont, who edged out three-term incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary. Painting Lieberman as a GOP lackey and trumpeting the race as a referendum on the Iraq war, which the senator so steadfastly defends to this day, Lamont backers propelled their guy to narrow victory.

But then the summer ended.

Almost immediately after left-wing pundits and bloggers demonstrated (and flaunted) their great effectiveness in the primary, they were proving their limitations in the general election, where Lieberman ran under the banner of the Connecticut For Lieberman party after getting the requisite number of signatures.

Even the most adamant Lamont supporters who had torn Lieberman to shreds for months could not offer a good reason for voting for their candidate beyond his anti-war stance. When they tried to explain why people should vote for Lamont and not just against Lieberman, it sounded forced.

Appealing broadly to independents and Republicans, Lieberman stuck to his guns, overcame his challenger and finished the year with a 10-point win, emerging as a more powerful political force than he was before losing the primary. Under the current Senate configuration, in which Democrats hold the slimmest of majorities, his power has never been greater.

2. Cheney’s Got a Gun (Sung to the Tune of the Classic Aerosmith Hit)
The sitting vice president has always done things his way. He’s not one for playing by the rules, or for explaining or justifying his positions to the media. But 2006 showed us that when you shoot another human being, you’ve got to speak up about it.

In February, Dick Cheney accidentally shot hunting pal Harry Whittington. What’s worse is that he didn’t get the word out for nearly a day. When he did, it was to the tiny Texas paper serving the town where the pair were hunting. Initially, the owner of the hunting ranch tried to downplay the mishap. Some Cheney backers tried to blame the victim, until the hunters came forward and confessed that it was indeed Cheney’s fault.

In an unprecedented move, White House spokesman Scott McClellan implicitly criticized Cheney’s handling of the incident, a symbol of Dick’s disdain for the obligations of his public role.

Never explain. Never apologize. That is how one senior White House official described Cheney’s PR policy. Even when shooting a man.

1. Rums Felled
Kudos to the newspaper(s) who thought up that one in the aftermath of the long overdue firing of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. George W. Bush spent so much time defending the embattled secretary that it almost came as a surprise when the president announced that he was ousting him because the Iraq War needed a new set of eyes.

It was a decisive move that could have signaled a course correction from Bush had he not sworn a week earlier, before the mid-term elections, that Rumsfeld was safe in his job. After the firing, a memo leaked, written by Rumsfeld just days before, that showed he was evaluating a wide range of alternative policies, including some that Democrats put forth.

The memo bears the secretary’s personal hallmarks of bureaucratic vengeance and ass-covering. Rumsfeld or someone serving his interests may have leaked it in an effort to show that he wasn’t blind to the reality in 2006 Iraq. But even George W. Bush may have been wise to this one.