The good old days of wacky parliamentary bullshit are long gone in the Senate — you don’t even have to actually filibuster to filibuster any more, how lame is that — so we were kinda half-heartedly excited for this all-night session thing that Harry Reid was going to force everyone to do. Then he pussed out and they set up cots and he changed the times of the roll-call vote so everyone could get a couple hours of sleep, stripping his useless political stunt of what little slightly-comprehensible symbolism it possessed. After all, if we could’ve forced Orrin Hatch to stay up all night, we might’ve finally won (lost?) in Iraq. Now, nothing.

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Every week, our Anonymous Lobbyist answers your questions about how laws get made and why they probably shouldn’t. If you have a question about the dirty business of doing business in Washington, ask her.

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• Heard on the Hill: Because the whole politics thing is an elaborate farce, Terry McAuliffe and Ed Gillespie, former heads of the DNC and RNC, respectively, are bestest buds and wrote their probably-identical books at the same time… “Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) flew first class to Washington, D.C., on Monday while his wife was stuck back in coach.” [Roll Call]
• Yeas and Nays: A book is being published of drawings by presidents, leading to the inevitable “Republicans are better doodlers” joke. Ronald Reagan, our first six-year-old president, repeatedly drew himself as a cowboy… Former Senator Toe-Suckin’ Bob Packwood was out a-lobbying the Senate yesterday, rode the senators-only elevator. [Examiner]
• Under the Dome: Ed Gillespie (again) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) will perform a routine together at the DC’s Funniest Celebrity contest… House Majority Leader John Boehner forgot Deborah Pryce’s new coinage for kangaroo courts: “Terrorist tribunals.” … Joe Lieberman to Michael Chertoff: “I prefer to think of you not as a member of the peanut gallery, but as Buffalo Bob.” Chertoff: WTF are you talking about, old man? [The Hill]
• Rush and Molloy: Bill Clinton is hosting a big-ass conference to bring about world peace or something, Laura Bush is Wednesday’s “guest of honor.” Also, Billy Crystal did his hacky Catskills routine at Bill’s birthday party in Toronto for some reason. [NYDN]