…even when that CW doesn’t actually apply.

Selections from today’s front-page analysis of yesterday’s news: MORE »

• Resignation of Andrew Card could be the beginning of a “second-term overhaul.” Senior official: “The president’s style is not Saturday Night Massacre.” [WP, NYT, W$J, LAT, USAT]
• Resignation of Card indicates that Bush is increasingly “deferring to the expectations of Washington conventional wisdom.” Anonymous official: “Part of what you are seeing is some adjustment to the political realities.” Ari Fleischer: “There was a drumbeat out there that the president’s staff could not miss and Bush could not miss.” [WP]
• FISA court judges voice opposition to warrentless eavesdropping. [NYT]
• Shiites contend that Bush opposes the Iraqi prime minister. [NYT]
• Department of Homeland Security is experiencing a dangerous “brain drain.” [USAT]
• Democratic leaders set to unveil plan for “real security,” though “most of the proposals are not new.” [NYT]

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Bush shuffles aides, Card out as chief of staff [Reuters]
Not Showing His Cards [Politics Extra]
Card Folds, Bush Draws To the Inside [The Nation]
Card Shuffled [Patriot Ledger]
And winner of the Annual Wonkette LL Cool J Reference Award is The Dallas Morning News with “Don’t Call It a Shakeup”. MORE »

Now that Andrew Card has resigned as White House chief of staff, the parlor game has begun. Everyone is speculating: Is this just the first of a string of resignations? If so, who will be heading out the door next? MORE »

This is what happens when you are required to sound properly cynical on very short notice: MORE »

So Andrew Card is out (and the writing has been on the wall for a little while now). Our sources indicate that it was another case of unexpected Ambien side effects that had caused Card to accidentally sleep-administrate for going on five years now. MORE »

• Andrew Card resigns as White House chief of staff; budget director Joshua Bolten is be tapped as replacement. [WP, AP, W$J]
• Senate Judiciary Committee approves two guest worker programs and the legalization of millions of immigrants. [WP, WP, W$J, USAT, LAT]
• Both parties face political tightrope over immigration. Bush: “Newcomers have a special way of appreciating the opportunities of America, and when they seize those opportunities, our whole nation benefits.” [WP, LAT]
• Bush has recently held off-the-record meetings with top reporters; New York Times declines to participate. [NYT]
• FEC restricts political contributions and spending on the internet but puts bloggers in the same category of newspapers. [WP]

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* Attention focuses on the future of Rove, Card; outside names are floated as possible additions to the White House senior staff. [NYT]
* Supreme Court clarifies police powers to enter private homes; both partners must agree to search unless warrant is presented. The case shows “the strains behind the surface placidity and collegiality of the young Roberts court.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Today makes Bush the “longest-sitting president since Thomas Jefferson not to exercise his veto.” [USAT, USAT]
* Iraq war veteran edges out victory in Cook County, Illinois congressional race; results delayed due to problems with electronic voting machines. [WP]
* DeLay’s attorneys ask judges to make quick decisions to avoid interference with the midterm election. [WP, USAT]
* Former Rep. Randy Cunningham’s bribed goods will be auctioned today. [WP]
* Democratic comeback strategies hit the bookshelves. [WSJ]

* Bush, Cheney remain optimistic about Iraq on third anniversary of the invasion; Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, meanwhile, tells the BBC: “If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Republicans are struggling with message discipline for the midterm elections as internal “disaffection and disagreement” grows. [WP]
* House members will have only spent 97 days in Washington this year, if all goes as planned. [USAT]
* Bush has been fielding tougher questions from more diverse audiences as he conducts town-hall-style gatherings. Andrew Card: “We like to mix things up so you’ll pay more attention.” [NYT]

• McCain intends to remain steadfast with his effort to ban torture of detainees. [WP]
• Condoleezza Rice, visiting Europe, “plans to come out swinging” on the issue of secret prisons, “shifting the focus back to the responsibilities of Europe

• Administration officials contemplate a presidency without Karl Rove; effort is underway to isolate Bush from “further damage” and design contingency plans. Andrew Card, said one GOP strategist, “looks totally burned out.” White House is now coping with consequences of a “lost year.” [WP, USAT]
• Fitzgerald is reportedly investigating whether Rove and “Scooter” Libby “sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors” and/or leaked “garden-variety classified information”; both “have been advised that they may be in serious legal jeopardy.” [NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Aide says former FEMA Director Michael Brown ignored eyewitness accounts from New Orleans as levee broke. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• White House was blind-sided by reaction to Miers, say observers. Professor: “You’re seeing evidence of a profoundly disorganized and demoralized White House. If you are looking for evidence of a rudderless White House, the slipshod manner in which Harriet Miers’ papers were prepared is really Exhibit A.” [WP, LAT]
• Miers has been practicing with mock confirmation hearings; tour of Capitol Hill is over. [NYT, WT]
• DeLay is booked by police, then released on $10,000 bond; says flack, “I just may use that photographer for my family Christmas photo.” House Republicans seek to “heal leadership divide.” [WP, NYT, WSJ]

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