Wonkette

* Reliable Source: Cheney, at Fox News party, says Tony Snow will “do a superb job”. . . George Clooney, Joey Cheek in town for Sunday’s “Save Darfur” rally. [WP]
* Rush & Molloy: Rupert Murdoch to Snow: “Congratulations on your promotion - or maybe it’s a demotion.” [NYDN]
* Page Six: Snow isn’t “the greatest sax player”. . . Gen. Richard Myers dining at Da Tommaso in New York. . . Valerie Plame gets star treatment at a Vanity Fair party at the Tribeca Film Festival. [NYP]
* Inside the Beltway: Washington Life magazine hosts celebrity luncheon today, ahead of Correspondents’ Dinner. [WT]

• Reliable Source Top guns Karl Rove, John Negroponte, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Michael Chertoff, Carlos Gutierrez, John Warner, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Myers celebrate the Marines’ 230th birthday. . . Bodyguard reportedly followed Dr. Phil to the bathroon of the Capital Grille. [WP]
• Under the Dome: The WB is developing a D.C.-based soap opera that will show “the town

In this White House pool report, the President inaugurates a war on gas:

The presidential and vice presidential motorcades departed together in gas-guzzling tandem at 9:51 a.m., arriving at Fort Myer at 9:57 a.m. for the Armed Forces Farewell Tribute and Armed Forces Hail marking retirement of Gen. Richard Myers as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and swearing-in of Gen. Peter Pace (first Marine to hold the job) as his replacement. . . . Cannon fire in honor of Gen. Myers set off at least one car alarm, meaning either the vibration was sufficient to set off the alarm or that our troops had successfully downed a Chevy.

Oh, the tragedy of friendly fire.

[Reuters]

Full report after the jump.

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In this White House pool report, we learn how the President is cutting down on “non-essential travel”: To a “farewell dinner” for exiting Joint Chiefs chief Gen. Richard Myers, the motorcade

was marginally shorter in the SUV category - five - than the one that traveled to the Energy Department today, with six SUVs. But it was longer in vans, four tonight, compared with three this morning. Two limos, of course.

Of course.

Full report after the jump.

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• Bush calls for oil conservation: “We can all pitch in. People just need to recognize that the storms have caused disruption.” [NYT, WT]
• Bush may endorse expansion of the military’s responsibilities in responses to natural disasters. [NYT, WT]
• Congressional Republicans turn attention to unsteady oil market; proposals will likely become Energy Bill II. Bush: “The storms have shown how fragile the balance is between supply and demand in America.” [WSJ]
• Republicans change rhetoric about fiscal policy, not the policy itself. [WP]
• Hundreds of anti-war protesters led by Cindy Sheehan are arrested in front of the White House; they lacked a permit. [WP]
• Bush hints next Supreme Court nominee will not be a white male. [NYT]

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A tipster writes to clear up all that earlier confusion on what newspaper Michael Chertoff was reading when he saw the headline saying that “New Orleans Dodged a Bullet,” and then apparently thought to himself, “Phew, so I won’t be coordinating that whole disaster relief thingamee after all. Wonder if there’s a matinee show of ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin.’ ” Over to you, tipster: MORE »

Today, the Southern New York District Court of Appeals is slated to hear government arguments in favor of barring the release of 87 photos and four videotapes depicting detainee abuse by U.S. military forces at Abu Ghraib prison. And over the weekend, unsealed court documents relating to the ACLU’s suit seeking release of the images revealed that Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers opposes their release because they may incite riots in the Middle East, much as Newsweek’s earlier reports of Quran defilements at Guantanamo Bay did. Funny thing, this, because back in May, Myers explicitly denied any connection between Afghani riots in Jalalabad and the Newsweek report. So, to review: We must suppress damaging information about the war effort because we run the risk of repeating a mistake that we never made in the first place. Insert preferred WMD joke here. — HOLLY MARTINS MORE »