Wonkette

• Reliable Source: Sen. George Allen tests a Segway at the Auto Show. [WP]
• Inside Politics: Federalist Society wants ABC to double-check its report on Antonin Scalia; group says the judge didn’t skip John Roberts‘ swearing-in to play tennis. [WT]
• Liz Smith: Democrats “lost two big liberal voices” in Maureen Dowd and Molly Ivins. [NYP] MORE »

• Republican “disarry” forces leaders to postpone budget bill. The GOP’s “typically lock-step discipline is cracking under the weight of Bush’s plummeting approval ratings, Tuesday’s electoral defeats and the increasing discontent of the American electorate. After five years of remarkable unity under Bush’s gaze, divisions between Republican moderates and conservatives are threatening to paralyze the party.” [WP, WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT]
• Bush will try to regain momentum by taking on his critics; speech today “will be the most direct refutation of the Democrat charges you’ve seen probably since the election,” says admin official. [NYT, USAT]
• Stephen Hadley defends the administration’s “very strong case” about the threat from Saddam Hussein: “The intelligence was clear in terms of the weapons of mass destruction.” [WP]
• Lawmakers are increasingly itchy about the situation in Iraq; new proposal eyes a shift in focus away from securing the entire country. John McCain: “Rather than focusing on killing and capturing insurgents, we should emphasize protecting the local population, creating secure areas where insurgents find it difficult to operate.” [WP]
• Karl Rove “has rebounded” and is “devising long-term political plans.” [NYT, LAT]

MORE »

• Reliable Source: Laura, Barbara, and Margaret Bush as well as Nancy Reagan and Annette de le Renta all had their hair done at Nuri Yurt. . . Stephen Colbert spotted at a Cosi. . . Michael Brown is selling his house. [WP]
• Under the Dome: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) wrote and performed a song about Samuel Alito with Paul Shaffer: “The most beautiful sound I

• Bush has not changed his position on stem-cell research and will veto legislation pushed by Frist; bill has enough support to pass without a filibuster. [WSJ, LAT, USAT]
• Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd dies at 84; Crown Prince Abdullah pronounced monarch. [AP, Reuters]
• Bush receives bills to sign as lawmakers leave town. [WSJ]
• Bush consoles over 30,000 Boy Scouts after four troop leaders are electrocuted. [NYT, WT, AP]
• 50% have unfavorable view of Bush in Gallup Poll. [USAT]
• DLC would prefer that Hillary take on the left. Brownstein: “If Clinton succeeds [at unifying the party], she will consolidate her position as the Democratic frontrunner for 2008. But if she fails, she risks damaging her stature on both sides of the party’s divide.” [LAT]
• Santorum challenges Hillary to a debate on family values after describing her views as “radical.” [WT]
• Roberts played an active role in the creation and presentation of the Reagan administration’s positions on civil rights [WP]
• Roberts‘ opinions about capital punishment are largely unknown. [WP]
• Influence of the Federalist Society “is the source of ever-swelling myth, mystery, insinuation, denial and debate.” [NYT]

Per WP:

Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in the influential, conservative legal organization’s 1997-1998 leadership directory.

Other things John Roberts “has no memory of”: MORE »

The WP today reports that John Roberts’s name and his work address appear in the leadership directory of the conservative Federalist Society, but the WH insists that Roberts “has no memory of belonging.” Some Democrats may see his association with the group as a cause for concern; we see his not remembering belonging as more of one. Of course, it’s likely that this “no memory of belonging” is Clintonesque dodge — WP speculates that the issue “may come down to the meaning of the word ‘membership.’” We’re hoping for a true Clinton flashback: a debate about the meaning of the word “member.” MORE »