• Reliable Source: Court TV’s Washington correspondent Savannah Guthrie is more focused on Zacarias Moussaoui than Scooter Libby. . . Monica Lewinsky spotted at a political comedy show in London. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: Aide to Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) hits “reply all” with “let’s all just booze soon” missive. . . James Dobson gets caught in the doors of the Senate subway. [Roll Call]
• Page Six: John Dean gives W. Mark Felt’s memoir a horrible review, saying it “is riddled with errors” and “adds absolutely nothing to our understanding about Felt’s role as Bob Woodward’s source during Watergate.” [NYP]
• Cindy Adams: Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s car accident will not actually be investigated. [NYP]
• Rush & Molloy: Patrick Kennedy has reportedly “been yearning for the company of ex-girlfriend” Tatiana Platt. [NYDN]
• Liz Smith: McCain on Washington: “So much is going to come down, so many indictments… well, it’s all so corrupt,” and to Katie Couric: “Congratulations and condolences.” [NYP]
• Inside Politics: Sen. George Allen wins Young Republican National Federation straw poll. [WT]

(Henry the Intern is out sick today, so please blame your editors for this somewhat tardy and shorter-than-usual newswrap.) MORE »

* Justice Samuel Alito sent a thank you note to James Dobson for his prayers and support during the confirmation process. [firedoglake] MORE »

Chances are very good that the White House — in a very subtle move to distract the nation from it being… Friday — will announce their new SCOTUS nominee today. Reader CB has a suggestion: Pick the Stick! His honorable Butteriness, reigning panda of the National Zoo, combines the constitutional law experience of Harriet Miers with the adorability of John Roberts. Also, he stands a better chance than Edith Clement of banging Nathan Hecht. More of CB’s arguments on the Stick’s behalf:

1. His distinctive black markings practically function as a built-in robe made of fuzzy wuzzy panda fur. MORE »

• Documents show Frist was aware of his investment in HCA Inc.; his statements about “blind” trust are questioned. [WP, USAT]
• Republicans preview response to possible indictments. Hutchison (R-Texas) hopes “that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.” [NYT]
• Leak investigation “likely to accelerate second-term turnover in the Bush administration”; White House officials said to have “grim determination to conduct business as usual, even though it’s clearly not possible.” Bush reportedly frustrated and angry. [WSJ, NYT, NYDN]
• Criticism of Miers lacks modern precedent; senators demand release of Miers‘ White House files. Brownback (R-Kan.): “If we’re to give advice and consent, we’ve got to have a full picture.” [NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Senate Judiciary Committee may call James Dobson to testify about Miers. Specter: “I don’t think the nomination is in trouble.” [WP]
• Allen (R-Va.) expects Rove, Libby will resign if indicted. [WP]
• Fitzgerald seen as “a special counsel with no discernible political bent who prepared the ground with painstaking sleuthing and cold-eyed lawyering.” [WP]

MORE »

ABC’s Jake Tapper nudges James Dobson to come a little more clean about his top-secret-cross-my-heart-hope-to-die conversation with Karl Rove. Dobson, as you may recall, claimed that the information he heretofore could not reveal was that Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian. And here we thought she was a man. In any case, Dobson pointed to his Fox News interview the day of the nomination as an example of his decorum: “And that is the last time that I said that I had information that was confidential and that I really couldn’t talk about.” But what did he say? Tapper does that reporter thing and discovers:

[G]o back to that Fox News transcript … Namely, Dobson says “In her long career, she has been willing to stand up against the American Bar Association with regard to the policy on abortion. That took a lot of courage. She has — she is a conservative Christian.” MORE »

James Dobson’s recent revelations regarding his conversation with Karl Rove show him to be a member of the Judy Miller school of publicity:

I think it’s a mistake and maybe even an ethical problem for people to do that—to go out and brag about being a player on the national scene, maybe to make themselves to look important.

Yeah, refusing to reveal confidential information pertaining to a controversial national issue is a sure way to stay behind the scenes, Jim. As for the substance of the conversation, Dobson claims that Rove sought to bolster Dobson’s confidence in Miers’s pro-life stance by telling him she is an evangelical Christian. (He also hinted that other, perhaps more acceptable candidates had dropped out. Pussies.) Dobson, clearly, was convinced. But, uhm, hey: Isn’t making a legal decision based on your religion unconstitutional? MORE »

• Attorneys for Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee express “uniform disappointment” with Miers and are “pushing back against her.” Said one lawyer, “Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact.” [NYT]
• Dobson says Rove assured him that Miers is a conservative evangelical Christian, though Roe v. Wade “was never part of our discussion”; Rove reportedly explained that alternative candidates removed their names “because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter.” [LAT, WT]
• Judith Miller will testify for a second day today; prosecutors are investigating earlier conversations between administration officials and journalists. [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• Laura says criticisms of Miers might be sexist. William Kristol: “It is striking to me they are spending less time explaining the merits of Harriet Miers and more time. . . using liberal talking points to criticize the critics. I think it is going to backfire.” [WP, NYT, WT]
• White House strategy shifts focus to Miers‘ religious credibility. [USAT]
• Bush in New Orleans: “Out of this rubble is going to come some good; out of the devastation is going to come new cities and new hope.” [NYT]
• Milbank on Bush’s “Today” interview: “The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere.” [WP]
• DeLay remains a go-to, agenda-setting congressman. [NYT]
• McCain advances his own agenda ahead of the White House and the Republican leadership. McCain: “Do I want to be president? Sure. Do I want to run for president? That’s the question.” [WSJ]

MORE »

We plan to celebrate the subjugation of the Native American peoples by knocking off early to toss back some gin while laying on diseased blankets. Hope this extra-big remainders grab-bag tides you over. MORE »