BEN NELSON WILL NOT INCUR THE PROMISED/FEARED WRATH OF YOUR WONKETTE: The Democratic Senator will vote “aye” on the health care bill, ergo the celebratory Americana disco accoutrement at left. “This weekend, I will vote for the motion to proceed to bring that debate onto the Senate floor. The Senate should start trying to fix a health care system that costs too much and delivers too little for Nebraskans.” Fine, Ben Nelson, you are excused from time-out. [Omaha World-Herald]

Here’s the RNC’s fancy new web ad arguing that Ben Nelson or any other moderate Democrats would be hypocrites if they didn’t filibuster a motion to proceed on a health care bill. They claim that this would be akin to John Kerry’s famous “for it before I was against it” line on Iraq funding in 2004, which is wrong, although John Kerry is still terrible at speaking. But! We do appreciate the RNC’s production here, for the first time ever. The menacing, twitching figures, the repetition, the gritty industrial vibe. Too bad no one will ever see it. [Washington Independent]

On Monday night your two Wonkette associate editors attended a Dinner Party thrown by the digest The Week, called The Week Opinion Awards, and we’re only posting about it now because hey, shut up. It was somewhat “A-List,” meaning (a) why the poo were we invited and (b) why the poo did we go? Because after only four seconds at the opening cocktail party, your male associate editor was begging Sara to leave. But two full glasses of gin over the next four seconds changed that attitude into “LET’S GO FUCK WITH LINDSEY GRAHAM” and we stayed for the dinner after all. MORE »

John Hart, communications director for Sen. Tom Coburn, to his collegues, on his boss’s desire to investigate a company that employs the son of Sen. Ben Nelson: “This will shut that f—er up… I can’t wait to send an In Case You Missed It to Nebraska press that will be forwarded to a–face.” Coburn’s legislative director Roland Foster had the reply-all follow-up zing: MORE »

* Reliable Source: Taylor Branch to publish book based on his rambling chats with Bill Clinton. [WP]
* Yeas and Nays: Radio & TV Correspondents dinner tried to get Borat, ended up with Ricky Skaggs … Rep. Paul Hodes talks to Daniel Webster’s statue. [Examiner]
* Shenanigans: Senators make lame jokes based on popular teevee commercials, just like your dumb friends. [Politico]
* The Sleuth: Senator Ben Nelson loves the Rolling Stones, and, more troublingly, is called the “Benator” by his staff. [WP] MORE »

* Heard on the Hill: “Why did Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) miss 19 House votes over four days in mid-January? He was playing golf in Palm Springs. [Roll Call]
* Reliable Source: The MPAA brought in Will Smith to make lawmakers like Hollywood again… Sufjan Stevens drank at the Watergate. [WP]
* Yeas and Nays: Joaquin Phoenix stood next to Dennis Kucinich at a Department of Peace press conference, refused to say anything. [Examiner]
* The Sleuth: Nebraska odd couple Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson are getting along! Finally! [WP]
* Shenanigans: Democratic Whip James Clyburn loves Jack Daniels soooo much they asked him to be their spokesman… Sen. Debbie Stabenow ripped off the Nicholson monologue from A Few Good Men on the floor of the Senate. [Politico]

The American political elite are enviable in so many ways. Doesn’t everyone wish they had a really good-looking family, like Dick Gephardt’s? Or a culturally sensitive patriarch, like Karl Rove? Perhaps there is more admiration for our great athletes — like Yankees players Mike Mussina and Alex Rodriguez, who both have tons of fans — even if Jeff Gannon isn’t one. In any case, just sit back and have a beer like Tim Russert, or go Patrick Kennedy-style with an iced tea — there’s lots more wonk’d after the jump.

There’s no way that baseball hats and sunglasses can keep any celebs from getting wonk’d by you hardworking tipsters. Once you’ve discovered their charade, email us, with “Wonk’d” or “Sighting” in the subject line (and the name of the “brity” that should have known better). You keep a sendin’, we’ll keep a postin’, and they’ll keep pretendin’ to be surprised when they’re spotted.

MORE »

The first responses to our request for rug-sporting politicians have arrived! One of them stretches the definition of “DC Pol” a bit, but we’ll allow it, as the hair is just too weird not to.

On the left, Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich. His hair doesn’t so much grow from his head as enclose it, in much the way his state encloses our fair city. On the right, Ben Nelson, Senator from Nebraska, the Corn-something state (right?). MORE »

* Sens. Kerry and Kennedy may attempt to filibuster Alito; Dems Ben Nelson (Neb.), Robert Byrd (W.Va.), and Tim Johnson (S.D.) announce support of Alito’s confirmation. [WP, NYT, LAT]
* Bush distances himself from Jack Abramoff during news conference; offers defense of NSA eavesdropping and stance on Katrina inquiry. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT, WT]
* Admin has used “at least two separate rationales for why they did not ask for statutory authority” for NSA eavesdropping program. [WP]
* Public opinion of NSA eavesdropping is “nuanced and remains highly unresolved,” according to NYT-CBS poll; disapproval of Congress and the Republican Party are both high. 61% are concerned about losing civil liberties. [NYT]
* If tax cuts are allowed to expire in 2010, deficit will turn to surplus in 2012. [USAT]
* Lewis Libby’s lawyer asks Patrick Fitzgerald for documents “related to what journalists knew from any source” about Valerie Plame. [WP, NYT]

MORE »

• WP-ABC poll: 49% of Americans want Samuel Alito confirmed, 30% do not; 73% of Republicans, 33% of Democrats support him; 44% believe his positions are “about right.” [WP]
• Gang of 14 might be “fraying” over Alito; Ben Nelson has a “comfort level” with the nominee. [USAT, WT]
• Alito’s record on civil rights is “a significant cleavage point between his supporters on the right and detractors on the left, even before activists on both sides have completed poring over his opinions.” [WP]
• Alito told Richard Durbin that he carefully deliberated over ‘91 abortion judgment: “He said he had spent more time worrying and working over that decision than over any other decision he made when he was a judge.” [NYT]
• Alito has been private with his personal political opinions. [LAT]
• Alito “dissents slightly more often than the typical appeals court judge, and his dissenting opinions are almost always more conservative than the majority’s.” [NYT]
• Democrats want to take their time with Alito. [LAT]
• Alito favored some gay rights in college. [LAT]
• Alito joined ROTC at Princeton to be an officer if drafted. [WP]
• With Alito, the “revenge of the nerd” strikes the Senate, writes Milbank. [WP]