How are the Washington journalists responding to the selection of new NYT op-ed columnist Ross Douthat? The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder, for one, has mixed feelings: “Ross is a late-twenties-year-old public intellectual with the sensibility of a 60-year eminence grise, the range of a Hitchens, the pitch of a conservative AJP Taylor, the conscience of a Neibuhr and the intellectual honesty of his frequent sparring partner, Andrew Sullivan… Bill Kristol was just a mistake, but boy, talk about the rebound: I think Ross is the sharpest, most innovative heterodox thinker of his generation, left or right… As the chairman of the Atlantic would say, Ross is in his vertical hour. And now, one of the greatest minds in the country has one of the world’s best megaphones.” He concludes that Ross Douthat is best read while in the nude. [Marc Ambinder]

• Today is Day 1 of the Coleman-Franken battle royale. The real winners are the people of Minnesota, and also probably Al Franken. [The Corner]
• Most New Yorkers blame Caroline Kennedy for Caroline Kennedy’s decision to ruin democracy and publicly disgracing the esteemed office of Chuck Schumer’s intern by failing to get a Senate appointment. [CNN Political Ticker]
• Former (!) President George W. Bush won’t be allowed to take all of his diplomacy bonus prizes back to Texas. Such winnings include: the weird cowboy shit given to him by Australia’s PM, a (hardcover) book of sonnets from Putin, and a promise necklace from King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud. [Washington Post]
• Good to know: Bill Kristol was downsized from the Times because he was a terrible writer who made up facts for his weekly sloppy fictions, not because he is a conservative or Sarah Palin’s friend. [Daily Beast]
• RNC Chairperson Marc Ambinder has selected your new Republican Last Great Hope for 2012: it’s pretend human “Dirk Kempthorne,” which is an anagram for “Kathryn Jean Lopez”. [Marc Ambinder]

• Obama hired some gay bishop to give some mini Invocation speech, for fairness. Barack Obama has made history by being the first politician to hire a gay man to perform a service and not break the law or his marital vows in doing so. [AMERICAblog]
• Your Second Life avatar is destroying the actual, First Life Earth just as much as any random actual person from Brazil. [Hit & Run]
• Marc Ambinder is now plagiarizing witch-algebra from Nate Silver and predicting the chances Hopey has of accomplishing anything. [Marc Ambinder]
• Today Obama is meeting with the President of Mexico, “el Presidente”. [Top of the Ticket]
• Congress has hit a home-run for irrelevance today, as Roger Clemens, a baseball player from maybe the 1980s (?), will face a grand jury probe about whether or not he maybe took steroids. [Politico]

We are sitting on our hands, in a cold sweat, staring at the floor, WAITING for Marc Ambinder to decide on our request to join the sexiest fanciest Facebook club ever that we found today. Must be worthy… must be worthy. You can try and join too! Are you “working on” the presidential transition? HONOR CODE, PEOPLE. Ambinder will sniff you out if you’re lying! Apparently the Ambinder Transition Sex Club is also looking for a social chair. We nominate Intern Juli. IF WE EVEN GET IN! [Facebook]

It is 1945 all over again. A major historical War for the White House has ended forever, and the liberals won. The liberals do not usually win these things because they are scared of fighting, so who knows how this happened. Whatever. They can “govern” till the cows come home. The real story now is the new post-election Cold War that’s rapidly developing between McCain aides, Palin aides, conservative bloggers, conservative teevee hosts, conservative columnists… basically any GOP operative with a half-decent Rolodex and a certain moral flexibility. They are all shitting on each other. This is the greatest Cold War we’ve ever had the pleasure of covering. Let’s try to make some sense of it. MORE »

She is truly a monster, run by the Lizard King Bowser, running kamikaze nosedive straight into the soul of our personal Secular Jesuses. She is ruining everyone’s life. We need to end this primary, because all of this Internet ranting and raving about Hillary Clinton is just starting to sound too real. MORE »

We knew that John McCain was low on the funds, but not like, struggling-artist broke! As Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder writes, the McCain campaign campaign reported $3.4 million on hand with a debt of $1.7 million in the new Federal Elections Commission (FEC) report, and it also raised $1.8 million toward the general election. Hmm… 3.4 minus 1.7… times something… carry the zero….

OMG MCAIN HAS LESS MONEYS THAN ZERO! MORE »

As we mentioned earlier, last night Team Wonkette found itself at the book party for Peter Beinart’s The Good Fight. The festivities took place at the elegant Georgetown home of Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson, and numerous superstars attended — including Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Hillary Clinton chats it up with author Peter Beinart and his lovely wife, Diana Hartstein. Over Hillary’s shoulder: Third Way’s Matt Bennett.

A comprehensive report — plus more fabulous Liz Gorman photos — appears after the jump.

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Last night, Team Wonkette attended the book party for The Good Fight, the new book by Peter Beinart. On a perfect June evening, in the garden of Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson’s Georgetown mansion, we rubbed shoulders with numerous luminaries — including Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Don’t believe us? Well, we have eyewitnesses: Marc Ambinder and Patrick Gavin. And photos:

Yes, of course she wore a pantsuit. This one was pea green.

Attention Patrick Healy: A tuxedo-clad Bill arrived separately from Hillary. Hillary left the premises at least 20 minutes prior to Bill’s arrival.

More great photos, by Intrepid Girl Reporter Liz Gorman, appear after the jump. A more detailed write-up of the party, with even more pictures, will follow shortly.

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Earlier this afternoon, a Capitol Hill source advised us: MORE »