(Continued from previous)

Well, looks like we're all just going to have to wait and see. Will it be Edith Clement? Or is this cover for a surprise pick? I have no doubt of two things: 1) it won't be Gonzales (thought I never thought it would be) and 2) it will be a woman.

If someone leaks, it will come from the Judiciary Committee, not the White House. I expect that more rumors will float before this evening. But I will miss all of that as tonight is date night with the wife.

We will be going out to dinner and then go see "Wedding Crashers" (her idea, no joke). It's a night out we've been needing for a while. No special occasion, just happened to be able to line up babysitting.

I'll have to check out the blogswarms later this evening when I get home. You have fun, too!

Posted by: Gary at 03:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.

Cue "Jeopardy" theme....

UPDATE: 3:25pm:
From RedState.org. The old "bait 'n switch"? This is getting interesting.

Posted by: Gary at 02:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 19 words, total size 1 kb.

Joy (Edith Brown) Clement for SCOTUS?

Posted by: Gary at 10:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 58 words, total size 2 kb.

GOP chairman growing the party...

While Howard "Old Yellar" Dean is out making stupid comments to placate his moonbat base and underwhelming everyone with his lack of prowess in fundraising, Ken Mehlman is out harvesting new Republicans.

Fred Barnes looks at the current efforts of the man who's goal is to help the growing Republican majority grow even faster - contrasting his more focused style against his DNC counterpart.

In temperament and style, Mehlman is unlike Rove and even more unlike Democratic national chairman Howard Dean. Rove is sometimes brisk and has ten ideas on his mind at any given time. Mehlman is intense and focused. Dean's idea of outreach is to insult Republicans and question their motives. Mehlman criticizes Democratic leaders but not rank-and-file Democrats. When he meets a Democrat, Mehlman says, he tries to find out what they have in common and see if they can work together. "Politics ought to be about addition, not division," he says. A Republican official said Mehlman follows the Coke approach and Dean doesn't: "Coca Cola doesn't attract people by saying Pepsi drinkers are intolerant and have never worked a day in their lives." In short, Dean is abrasive. Mehlman isn't.

Mehlman goes to the fastest growing counties in the U.S. (most of which are in Red States). In demographic terms, these areas are known as "exurbs".

"This is where you find the new conservatives and the new Republicans," Mehlman says. After taking over the Republican National Committee in January, he delivered Lincoln Day dinner speeches in several exurbs: Douglas County outside Denver, Lee County in southwest Florida, Pottawatamie County in Iowa across the Missouri River from Omaha. And last week Mehlman came to Waukee, a boomtown in Dallas County, for a party fundraiser.

And most importantly, he is making an intense but realistic effort to focus on African-Americans, a constituency that is offered nothing real by Democrats except rides to the polls.

"Three factors are different today," he says. One, Bush's ownership agenda is appealing to African Americans. "We're the progressives now," he says. Two, there's a "cultural disconnect" between African Americans and Democratic leaders. And, three, Democrats take African Americans for granted. But, again, Mehlman doesn't expect instant gains. "That's not how it works," he says. "I'm more realistic about what's required than people have been in the past." He favors "inclusion, not outreach. Outreach is what you do four weeks before the election. Inclusion is what you do four years before the election."

The inclusion strategy replaces the old practice of relying on African-American consultants. It stresses support for African-American candidates. Mehlman encourages this at all levels of politics. He recently spoke at a fundraiser for a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, city councilman, Otto Banks, who switched parties to become a Republican. In Iowa, he attended a fundraiser at the home of Isaiah McGee in Waukee. A school teacher, McGee is running for city council. "We're honored you are running for this office," Mehlman told him. "Run hard and keep running."

The DNC leadership seems to be focused on navigating a sinking ship, while Mehlman and the RNC are expanding their fleet.

Posted by: Gary at 09:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 525 words, total size 4 kb.

Sadly, Canada may have it's own Scott Peterson case...

Pregnant wife murdered in Edmonton, Alberta. Hat Tip: NealeNews

Posted by: Gary at 07:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

SCOTUS rumor mill churning away...

Michelle Malkin has a good round-up of the scuttlebutt, which has intensified since the White House indicated it would name a nominee by the end of the month - possibly by the end of this week.

I'll go on the record and stand by my prediction (such as it is): Janice Rogers Brown. The right pick at the right time.

Posted by: Gary at 07:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

Yikes! Now that's gonna leave a mark!

Posted by: Gary at 03:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 14 words, total size 1 kb.

Mary Jo Kopechne (1940-1969): R.I.P.

A terrible anniversary to mark, but ABP reminds us that on this day, 36 years ago, an innocent woman's life ended because she made the mistake of getting into an Oldsmobile driven by Senator "Tailspin" Teddy Kennedy.

On July 18, 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne was in the passenger seat of the car when Kennedy drove it off a small bridge connecting Martha's Vineyard to Chappaquiddick Island. The car overturned and sank. Kennedy - by eyewitness accounts probably drunk off his ass at the time -managed to escape, flee the scene and spend the rest of the night trying to concoct on alibi with his buddy, Joseph Gargan - including mulling the possibility of saying that Gargan was actually driving.

Kopechne would have been 65 years old this year and likely would have lived a full and happy life had it not been for the reckless irresponsibility of a man who has been a chronic screw-up and an embarrassment to his family his whole life. Kicked out of Harvard for cheating, riding to a Senate seat on his brother's name and infamous for his role - sans trousers - in the evening that led to his nephew's arrest and trial for rape in South Florida, Teddy Kennedy escaped responsibility for his actions and, ultimately, justice for Kopechne's death.

By rights, Kennedy should have served at least ten years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. But in those days, the MSM was able to control the story and keep it muted. Back-slapping Massachusetts politics did the rest.

Unfortunately, this is a story that is unfamiliar to most people born after that time. And the media has done its damnedest to keep it that way. Well, enter the Blogosphere. If you don't know much of the story, go to the links and read about it. And educate those friends and family who haven't heard it either.

It's not about discrediting the reputation of a man who seeks the White House. That day is long past.

It's about shedding light on the absolute hypocrisy and lack of credibility of this Left-wing icon. Of all Democrats currently in office, Ted Kennedy most represents what went wrong with that party. And why so many people, like myself, walked away from it.

Posted by: Gary at 02:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 384 words, total size 3 kb.

Pigs...In...Spaaaaaace - at least their sperm...

This story immediately made me think of that old "Muppet Show" bit. The Chinese plan to send 40 grams of pig sperm into space with their next launch.

Agricultural experts hope to use the sperm to fertilise pig eggs back on Earth - to see what effect a period of microgravity will have had on the sperm's activity.

Trying to breed some kind of futuristic Mu Shu Pork? And these people have nuclear weapons?

Posted by: Gary at 11:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

Democrats only hope...

George W. Bush wins twice and the Republicans increase their congressional strength every election year. With terrorists on the ropes and U.S. economic news getting better every day, the Democrats only have one hope to hang their hats on: that somehow, somewhere there is a scandal brewing that's juicy enough to taint the Bush Presidency.

They'll beat the drum over and over in the hopes that if they repeat a charge enough times and with the right intensity, that Joe six-pack will absorb this subliminal message: Bush bad, Republicans bad.

To this day, the only knock they have on a successful Reagan Presidency is the Iran-Contra situation which they invariably like to hold up as some kind of trophy - as if this one episode somehow offsets the achievements of pulling the U.S out of its Carter-induced malaise, creating a robust economy and bringing the Soviets to their knees.

But as Rich Galen points out, Democrats have a particular reason to fear Rove and the effect he is having on the landscape of national politics.

The danger which Karl Rove poses to the Democratic Party has nothing to do with which reporters told him the name of Joe Wilson's wife. It has everything to do with their utter terror of remaining the minority party in America for decades to come.

Consider how Rove helped turn Texas, one of the most Democrat-controlled States as of 1977, into one that is - for all intents and purposes - a one party State held by the GOP.

Now consider how much the once-dominant Democrats have lost in the last five years - the Presidency, State Houses, State Legislatures and a presence in the U.S. Congress that - bucking historical trends - has gotten smaller and smaller. And Democrats know only too well who deserves much of the credit.

In that context you understand the anger and frustration they have aimed at Karl Rove - the "architect". Message to Dems: Be afraid....be very afraid.

Posted by: Gary at 09:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 335 words, total size 2 kb.

CNN's "bullshit" newscast...

Crooks and Liars has a WMP file of Lou Dobbs on 7/15/05 reporting the latest in the Karl Rove "non-scandal".

Click on the link in his post where Dobbs says that Rove testified that he first heard of Joe Wilson's CIA wife from Robert Novak. As he cues over to Danna Bash for the report, you can clearly hear a woman's voice over the studio mike saying "That's bullshit".

Nice. They're just soooooo pissed that this story is dying off, and now they're really getting sloppy.

UPDATE: 12:22pm
Ha! Rush just featured this clip on his show. Ex-Donkey echo syndrome! ;-)

Posted by: Gary at 08:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 107 words, total size 1 kb.

My Sci-Fi Character: Elrond the Half-Elven...

Posted by: Gary at 10:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

Finally watched my tape....

Of the premier episode of season two. Battlestar Galactica.

Dammit, this show just gets better and better. If you're not watching it, you're missing one of the best shows on television. NBC really should move it to the main network lineup. Even non-scifi fans would eat it up.

I mean...holy crap...it's just that good.

Posted by: Gary at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 62 words, total size 1 kb.

If you've got three kids (or more), you'll appreciate this...

By the time the third child comes...

My personal favorite:

Diapering:

1st baby: You change your babyÂ’s diapers every hour, whether they need it or not

2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.

3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Hat Tip to the Llama Butchers.

Posted by: Gary at 08:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.

Later y'all...

Posted by: Gary at 05:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

Diane Lane Photo of the Week...

Posted by: Gary at 03:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.

Facts are stubborn things...

Posted by: Gary at 12:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

Doing a "Lynndie"...

Six Meat Buffet presents examples of the newest entry into the English lexicon - the "Lynndie", a pose named after the Abu Ghraib reservist who was famously pictured pointing towards a prisoner's twig and berries with a cig hanging out her mouth.

Hilarious stuff. Folks from all over are now taking pictures of themselves in variations of the Lynndie pose. Thank God for digital photography!

The whole collection can be found here, originally linked by Cranky Neocon.

Posted by: Gary at 09:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.

"When you gotta go, you gotta go"...

Canadian man scores $926 fine and a 30-day license suspension for an alleged mad dash to the potty. Clocked at about 120 miles per hour in his parents' Lexus, the young man told the police he was just trying to get himself to the porcelin mailbox to deliver a package.

"I was going to the gym and I was taking a protein shake, and if you overdose it's really painful," Mr. Mobarak said. "This is why I was rushing to the washroom. It's a really good medical reason. I don't speed. That's the only speeding ticket I ever got. It's a serious issue. I did not want to s--- in my mom's car. I wasn't thinking. I was in pain."

You gotta give the kid credit for thinking on his feet. Stupid but resourceful.

Hat Tip to: NealeNews

Posted by: Gary at 09:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

Valerie Plame: The worst kept secret in Washington...

Well, the NY Times is reporting that Rove's testimony shows that Novak in fact told him about Mrs. Wilson's identity in a phone call that Novak initiated. In fact, Rove stated to the grand jury that another reporter had told him the same thing earlier, though he doesn't remember which one.

Apparently, he could likely pick any reporter's name out of the air and be right because so many of them we already privy to the information. The fact that Plame was a CIA operative it seems was pretty much common knowledge. She couldn't be "outed" because - for all intents and purposes - she was already out.

Lorie Byrd shows how the Times has vindicated Rove without even knowing it.

From my reading of this story, if true, Karl Rove is completely cleared and indicated. But as the NYT article shows, that wonÂ’t take the Democrats off their talking points. They will continue to claim that Rove acted unethically and outed Valerie Plame, even if the evidence conclusively shows otherwise.

UPDATE: 12:03pm
Michele Malkin has a terrific round-up, including an interesting comparison of the different ways today's story is being presented by different outlets.

Posted by: Gary at 07:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 211 words, total size 2 kb.