Everyone has been wondering when Al Franken, the comedian who therefore is not smart but gets to be a Senator anyway, would stop pretending to care about “political issues” already — his 20-year campaign is over! — and just go nuts shouting insane Playboy rape jokes, constantly, in Judiciary Committee meetings. And at yesterday’s Sotomayor hearing he did, technically, tell his First Joke in the Senate, a snoozy little ice-breaker for the nation’s grandmothers about how teevee lawyer Perry Mason was hardly the best lawyer of his time, oh ho ho. Then he asked some serious questions… but it was too late! The world’s “most important governing body” is NO PLACE FOR VERBAL HUMOR, some nut writes in The Hill. MORE »

• Reliable Source: Mark Foley had a cameo in a bad action movie, playing a confressman. The picture’s pretty great… Alberto Gonzales stopped by GW lawschool to lecture, arrest everyone. [WP]

• Yeas and Nays: The Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute “Great American Conservative Women” pinup calendar is finally out! Another great picture… Republicans be confident. [Examiner]
• Under the Dome: Happy people don’t vote… Air America is picking up Armstrong Williams. [The Hill]
• Paullyblog: Daryn Kagan pretends not to hate CNN for firing her. [USN&WR]

• “Scooter” Libby has “a problem” in the leak investigation, his attorney says. Robert Bennett: “Fitzgerald is putting together a big case, and he’s looking for little pieces of a puzzle.” [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• Rejection of the Iraqi constitution by two Sunni provinces “guarantees the guerrilla war will go on,” says one historian. “As one official put it, every time the administration appears on the edge of a precipice, it manages to cobble together a result that allows it to move on to the next precipice,” according to The Washington Post. Per The New York Times, “Senior officials say the intelligence reports flowing over their desks in recent months argue that even if democratic institutions take hold, the insurgency may strengthen.” [WP, NYT, USAT, USAT]
• House Republican leaders are preparing to cut up to $50b from ‘06 budget; fiscal conservatives win out. [WP]
• Miers will provide answers to Senate questionnaire today; strategists hope nomination will gain traction. [NYT]
• Some Republicans are concerned that Bush’s go-slow approach to rebuilding the Gulf Coast will create additional problems. [LAT]

MORE »

• Bush nominates White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. [CNN, AP]
• Fitzgerald may seek criminal conspiracy charge from leak investigation. “Scooter” Libby discussed Valerie Plame with at least two reporters but maintains he did not say her name or unveil her covert status; testimony of Libby and Karl Rove appears to contradict early White House statements. [WP]
• Tom DeLay: “I think it will be over and be over very, very soon, and I think I will go back and be majority leader.” Christopher Shays (R-Conn.): “We got elected basically by saying we would live by a higher moral standard, and I don’t think recently we have.” [LAT, USAT, WP, WT]
• Majority of governors want states, not the Pentagon, to oversee responses to national disasters. [USAT]

MORE »