Today’s edition of quick hits.
* What, exactly, does a candidate do with $387,000 in “petty cash” just a few days before a major primary election?
* Bob Novak has a clever way of downplaying the significance of his friends losing in Congress. He told an audience yesterday, “I would make the argument that this is one of the least important elections that I have seen.” Corruption, war, scandals, terrorism, deficits and crippling debt … yeah, “least important” sounds about right.
* I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but for a candidate for the U.S. Senate, even a weak candidate like John Spencer (R-N.Y.), to question a rival’s appearance is just bizarre. Late last week, however, Spencer lashed out at Hillary Clinton, insisting that she used to be ugly. “You ever see a picture of her back then? Whew,” said Spencer of Clinton’s younger days. “I don’t know why Bill married her.” He added that he believed Clinton has had “millions of dollars” of plastic surgery. This is what Clinton hatred has come to. How sad.
* A GOP candidate for state superintendent of schools in Oklahoma came up with an unorthodox idea last week. Bill Crozier said there should be thick used textbooks under every student’s desk, because in the unlikely event of a school shooting, the kids can use the books as shields. “People might think it’s kind of weird, crazy,” Crozier said. “It is a practical thing; it’s something you can do. It might be a way to deflect those bullets until police go there.”
* It was only a matter of time before some hysterical right-wing Republican said what too many in their unhinged party actually believe: Republican Rep. Curt Weldon said last week that Democrats are “un-American.”
* Remember the fun we had with Armstrong Williams nearly two years ago when we discovered he was on the administration’s payroll? The investigation into the mess took a while, but the matter has finally been resolved — Armstrong reached a settlement with prosecutors in which he’ll pay $34,000, but admit to no wrongdoing. “The department is happy to see this matter come to a close,” a spokesperson for Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said yesterday. I bet.
* It’s horrific to read a writer’s reflections on how much better Iraq appeared two years ago.
* No U.S. presidential administration had ever looked forward to another country testing nuclear weapons, worse yet a known adversary, but then again, the Bush gang are trailblazers.
* I think Needlenose’s Swopa has a really good idea as to how best to reframe the GOP’s attack ads. Simple, effective, poignant.
* Remember the clown from last week whose campaign sent out thousands of letters in Orange County, Calif., trying to suppress the Hispanic vote? First the GOP candidate said he had nothing to do with the letters. Then he said one of his staffers might have been responsible. You won’t believe what he’s saying now.
* Despite what you may hear from some conservative “journalists,” there’s only one kind of pay-as-you-go budget rule.
* Antonin Scalia is so far gone, it’s frightening.
* This may sound picky, but if you skip a fundraiser citing your mother-in-law’s illness, but then campaign for a candidate immediately after your mother-in-law dies, it looks kind of funny.
* Kudos to Nancy Pelosi for a strong 60 Minutes appearance. Leslie Stahl thought she would put Pelosi on the defensive at the outset, saying, “You’ve called your Republican colleagues ‘immoral’ and ‘corrupt,’ and that they’re running a criminal enterprise. I mean, you’re one of the reasons we have to restore civility in the first place.” Pelosi responded, “Well actually, when I called them those names, I was being gentle. There are much worse things I could’ve said about them.”
If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.