Wonkette

It’s a good week to be a teenage girl in DC. Sex In The City’s Chris Noth was hanging out downtown, and Jordan Catalano Jared Leto was, like, totally in Dupont, or something.

Stevie Wonder was also seen, but he didn’t see you, and neither did his security guard. These and more of the hoi-polloi that we lovingly call “famous for DC,” after the jump.

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The LA Times reports that Scooter Libby was epically obsessed with Joseph Wilson. Monitored his every media appearance. Encouraged the White House to “mount an aggressive public campaign against him.” And, in a particularly chilling instance of malicious fixation, “dictated the format for internal memos [regarding Wilson], including that paragraphs be indented.” MORE »

So either Libby’s a moron or he’s a Straussian genius of recondite literary sleuthing. Where else have the “aspens turned” before?
Using to the latest in forensic science — Amazon’s “Search Inside This Book” function — WonkCentral has cracked the Da Scooter Code. Look no further. The winks, the nudges, the war-ravaged pillow talk: It’s all in here. MORE »

While Scooter Libby is the odds-on favorite in Vegas, Rove hasn’t quite left the roulette table yet. What about conspiracy on his end, and what about those 4 1/2 grueling hours under Fitzgerald’s lamp on Friday? Tom Maguire at Just One Minute blogged yesterday: MORE »

The Raw Feed and AScribe are both reporting that Judy’s getting the first of what are sure to be many accolades that prove freedom equals jail time. MORE »

Today, HuffPo reveals the content of Karl Rove’s off-the-record talk at gathering in Aspen, Colorado. Among other bombshells dropped by the President’s right-hand man: “On Iraq: There has been a big difference in the region. Iraq will transform the Middle East…” Whoa, there, buddy. Try not to blow my mind all at once. Oh, and: “We have not been good at explaining the success in Iraq. Polls go up and down and don’t mean anything…” You can understand why he went off the record. This is kind of loose, off-message talk that brought down Nixon. MORE »

• $286b transportation bill, which funds a record 6,371 pet projects, marks a “significant shift from Bush’s once-uncompromising stand on earmarks.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• NARAL’s anti-Roberts advertisement sparks backlash; Annenberg study concludes “the ad is false” and “uses the classic tactic of guilt by association.” [NYT]
• 9/11 Commission was notified of military intelligence about the hijackers; Weldon says the panel’s “refusal to investigate. . . is evocative of the worst tendencies in the federal government that the commission worked to expose.” [NYT]
• Roberts advised O’Connor to be evasive at her confirmation hearings, suggesting he will duck questions about his opinions on specific cases. [WP]
• Specter supports administration’s position on Roberts‘ memos. [NYT, WSJ]
• Protesters set to join Sheehan; Rice, Rumself plan to visit ranch today. [USAT]

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• The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus told the grand jury that a third administration official –not Rove or Libby– volunteered information about Wilson and Plame in July 2003. [NYT]
• House passes CAFTA by 2 votes. [WSJ, LAT, WP, NYT]
• Democrats incensed that White House is withholding Roberts‘ tax returns. [WP, LAT]
• Senate Judiciary Committee submits questionnaire to Roberts regarding his political activities, memberships, and his role on the presidential transition team. [NYT]
• Parties bicker about ground rules for battle over Roberts. [WP]
• Memos show Roberts was consistently conservative while working for the Reagan administration. [NYT]
• Military commander says withdrawal of troops from Iraq could begin in the spring. [WP, USAT]

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Yes, Fourth Estate, public interest blah blah, Mark Felt, yeah, yeah, sanctity of pledge to whistleblowers, good, fine. But the real reason to hail this noble journalistic tradition is that in the hands of gimlet-eyed purveyors of righteous scorn like Jason Vest, it can yields quotes like this, about Joe Wilson: MORE »