Cindy Sheehan is leaving the site of her protest vigil outside President Bush’s Crawford compound to tend to her 74-year-old mother, Shirley Miller, who recently suffered a stroke and is hospitalized in Los Angeles. No word as yet on how serious Ms. Miller’s condition is, but here’s one way to track it: You’ll know she’s lost consciousness when Michelle Malkin starts opining on her behalf. — HOLLY MARTINS MORE »

Salon’s War Room blog draws a line in the brush: It will no longer refer to President Bush’s 10,000-acre getaway spot as a ranch. Over to you, Tim Grieve: MORE »

• Bush to ride with Lance Armstrong in Crawford, though without traditional cycling attire: “There are certain things that age brings with it, and not wearing the form-fitting Lycra shorts is one of them, if you know what I mean.” Somehow we think things would have been different under Kerry. . . . McCain takes son and pal out to congratulatory dinner Arlington. . . 41 percent in TIME survey have no idea what to think of “Influential Hispanic” Alberto Gonzales. [WP]
• At George Soros‘ 75th birthday party in Southampton, he “pitched giant air-conditioned tents” (heh) and invited Indian and African performers to entertain guests, moguls found planes grounded, however, and had to take car services to city. [Rush and Malloy]
• That’s one way to distinguish yourself from Hillary: Jeanine Pirro likes silky underthings and margaritas. [Page Six]
• Novelistic take on the War on Terror has Bush asking, “Can we somehow throw a kind of electric blanket around New York?” [Cindy Adams]
• Walter Isaacson keeps Washington’s eyes ” turned west looking to Aspen” with thrill-a-minute dialogues starring the likes of Joe Lieberman. [Liz Smith]

• Administration officials privately acknowledge trouble with Iraq. Bush: “The recent violence in Iraq is a grim reminder of the brutal enemies we face in the war on terror.” Retired General McCaffrey: “It’s a race against time because by the end of this coming summer we can no longer sustain the presence we have now. . . The American people are walking away from this war.” [WP, USAT]
• Bush expresses sympathy for Sheehan: “It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel about the death that takes place.” White House does not publicly dispute Sheehan’s characterization of her original meeting with Bush. [WP, NYT]
• Abramoff is indicted on fraud charges by federal grand jury in Florida. Rothenberg: “It absolutely could play into the Democrats’ national message. They are going to look for any and all ways to paint the Republicans as ethically challenged.” [WSJ, NYT]
• NARAL will change its controversial anti-Roberts advertisement. [WP, NYT]
• FBI prepares for a possible domestic terrorist attack around anniversary of 9/11; sources propose a plot that involves exploding fuel tankers. DHS flack: “The information is uncorroborated, and the source is of questionable reliability.” [NYT]

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• White House, worried about surprises, delays release of tens of thousands of documents related to Roberts. [WP]
• 9/11 commission members seek answers after revelation that some hijackers were under surveillance. Lehman: “I think this is a big deal. The issue is whether there was in fact surveillance before 9/11 of Atta and, if so, why weren’t we told about it? Who made the decision not to brief the commission’s staff or the commissioners?” [NYT]
• Bush uses dead of August to gain ground. Strategist: “They’ve really perfected the art of spending time in Crawford. They do a good job of driving the agenda every day they’re down there. They push the story and keep the people in the other party out of the news.” [WSJ]
• Recent speech by Roberts offers indication of his political orientation. [LAT]
• Roberts is quizzed by Wyden about end-of-life care. Wyden: “His answer was, ‘I am concerned with judicial independence. Congress can prescribe standards, but when Congress starts to act like a court and prescribe particular remedies in particular cases, Congress has overstepped its bounds.’” [NYT]

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Does anybody remember why it is that Bush went to Crawford for four weeks? Scott McClellan brushed off detractors with this folksy argument:

Spending time outside of Washington always gives the president a fresh perspective of what’s on the minds of the American people. It’s a time, really, for him to shed the coat and tie and meet with folks out in the heartland and hear what’s on their minds.

Hey, that’s funny, there’s someone just outside the ranch who’d love see him!

The mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq led a protest march on President Bush’s ranch here on Saturday, prompting the White House to send two senior officials to meet her after she was blocked by the authorities from approaching Mr. Bush’s home.

Okay, really, we understand Sheehan’s pulling something of a publicity stunt. At least her hand-picked audience doesn’t already agree with her unlike some presidents we know. MORE »

• Conservatives remain committed to Roberts; final verification will come at confirmation hearings. [WP]
• Brownstein: “[Republican's] legislation that aims squarely at the priorities of conservatives and offers relatively few concessions to other perspectives. . . guarantees antagonism from Democrats and risks discontent among swing voters, who generally prefer the parties to moderate each other.” [LAT]
• Mother of soldier killed in Iraq creates conundrum for Bush as she captures the media’s attention by camping outside of his Crawford ranch: “I plan on staying here the entire month of August or until he comes out to talk to me.” [NYT, USAT]
• Approval of Bush is not boosted by upbeat economic indicators; could be “a spillover of respondents’ other worries, such as the war in Iraq and terrorism.” [WSJ]
• Roberts said in 2000 that nominees often “go their own way.” [WP]
• Bush stays busy in Crawford while aides take vacations; Nicolle Devenish is off to Greece for her wedding. [NYT]

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Some of you may have noticed that we have declined to comment on President Bush’s record-setting vacation-going. Partly this is because we believe critics are being disingenuous in portraying this as anything like the kind of vacation normal people take. He’s the President and there’s no off-the-clock hours; if something big happens, he can’t exactly send people to voicemail. We can wish he wasn’t our President full-time (”Hello, Manpower?”), but there ya go.

The other reason we shall not mock our absentee Commander-in-Chief is that, frankly, we worry about anyone who doesn’t leave D.C. in August. The fact that he goes to Crawford, well, that’s a separate cause for concern. If there is any place in the world uglier than than Washington in the dead of summer, it’s dry-as-dirt, boring-as-rice central Texas. We know this because the sad sack scribes who followed Bush there yesterday told us so. An anonymous kvetcher writes in after the jump.

[REUTERS/Larry Downing]

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