• Conservative British economists endorse Pelosi, enjoy her adherence to “pinkies out” style of tea drinking. [Democracy in America] MORE »

Here’s your Friday News Dump: Convicted Abramoff bribe-taker, problem gambler and hopeless alcoholic Ohio Rep. Bob Ney has finally resigned from the House.

Congressional Quarterly is breaking this, right here. Our CQ spy says, “Rather hilariously, we can’t find anyone in the House Clerk’s office to confirm receipt of his resignation letter.” Ah, the endless charms of the Friday Night News Dump. Dirty details after the jump.

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Bad news for Crazy Curt Weldon: The National Republican Congressional Committee is cutting spending on his doomed Pennsylvania race and shuffling that money to help out some other GOP guys who have a better chance. Oh well. He’s going to jail fairly soon, so losing his House seat is the least of his problems. MORE »

• Congressional approval reaches 16%, lowest in history of WSJ polls. [WSJ]

• What’s the matter with Kansas now? Nine candidates have switched from Republican to Democrat in the last year, many of them leading. [WP]
• Democrats use failures in Iraq to strong effect against Republicans. [NYT]
• New ad targeting black voters and saying Martin Luther King was a Republican has infuriated civil rights leaders. [WP]
• Bob Ney will make it to jail when he gets around to it, for now he’ll collect his $3,176 a week and enjoy the lovely fall weather. [NYT]
• In a speech yesterday at Georgetown, Bill Clinton described differences in the parties, decried the partisan bitterness, and called for a return to olde timey Aristotelian style political debates. [WP, NYT]
• Today, Virginia: Bush/Allen, Clinton/Webb. [WP]

• George Bush had intentionally avoided Mark Foley for years because he was scared of “catching teh gay.” [Waveflux]

• Rule number 1: Tony Snow is security. Rule number 2: If you think Tony Snow is committing a security violation, see rule number 1. [Potomac Flacks]
• Wannabe serial killer John Mark Karr now running for congress: “For once we’d have a politician who is willing to take responsibility.” [The Dilbert Blog]
• Bob Ney won’t resign from Congress until he saves up enough money for a plane ticket back to Ohio so he can watch his house get repossessed. [The Gaggle]
• Chris Shays is appalled at what happened at Abu Ghraib, and will personally make sure it’s never available on DVD for $19.95. [Talking Points Memo]
• A country that’s regressing into childhood needs a leader who’s willing to make his own club house and keep people off his birthday party invite list, and Joe Lieberman is that leader. [LMNOP]
• Debate turns ugly when Rick Santorum’s foamy mouth covers Bob Casey in anger-powered projectile spittle. [Political Animal]
• Joke nothing, most of these people would probably be significantly more qualified than the current cabinet. [CourtTV]

Thanks to our sponsors, who surprise us each and every Cocktober. MORE »

Ohio crook Bob Ney isn’t running for re-election due to the whole “going to prison” thing, so he chose a successor who wouldn’t upset the delicate hypocritical-crook balance in Congress. (The ratio is 37 hypocritical crooks for each gullible bumbler, according to Congressional Quarterly.) MORE »

Today’s guilty-as-sin congressman is Ohio Republican Bob Ney! Welcome to the rapidly growing club, Bob. MORE »

• Maverick McCain and his merry band of outlaws reject Bush’s, “alternative interrogation strategies” legislation, approve their own. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]

• Both houses of Congress shelve large ethics bills; do agree to write their name next to kickback payments, er, earmarks. [WP, NYT]
• Congressman Bob Ney will plead guilty to “Abramoff stuff,” but it’s not his fault — the booze made him do it. [WP, NYT]
• Judge in Saddam Hussein trial tells him, “You were not a dictator.” [CNN, LAT]
• World Bank releases list of countries not to visit on vacation this year. [WP]
• FDA goes against Popeye and your parents, issues warning about eating spinach. [WP]

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from paying attention to the primary races this year, it’s that primary races in this country are NUTS. Every state has its own crazy variation on the process. In some states, you can pick which party’s primary to vote in on election day; in others, you can only vote in the primary for the party you’re registered in. In some states, there’s a second round of primary voting if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote; in others, whoever comes in first wins, even if they just get a plurality. (Georgia falls into the former camp in both cases, which helped give our dear Cynthia a hard time.) MORE »

• Gays working for Rick Santorum will not receive the blessed relief of a severance. [Joe. My. God.]
• Fake Americans on Bob Ney: Funnier and better informed than real Americans. [The Onion]
• Keith Olbermann thinks a little Nazi-baiting never hurt anybody; Anti-Defamation League disagrees. [ADL.org]
• Bill Clinton can be fixed repaired. [Plasticized.com]
• Some people apparently don’t realize that freedom of speech is a gift that’s best left unopened. Johnny Hart does. [DAW]