Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Congressional Dems will meet tonight to discuss exactly what their latest Iraq war spending bill is going to include (or not include).
* If the AP is right — and rumors about Dem plans often aren’t — the bill is going to be pretty ugly. “In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday.” The bill would include “goals” for Iraq, with reconstruction aid tied to results. Dems would also reportedly include a minimum-wage increase in the spending bill.
* Former Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay told a moderate Republican group yesterday that he believes the Justice Department is covering up the real reason for his ouster. “I can see why they would want to come up with an explanation other than the governor’s election for why I would be on such a list,” McKay said. He added that if the governor’s election led to his ouster, which it almost certainly did, “it is an entirely improper and perhaps illegal reason for my termination.”
* Speaking of the Justice Department, why did James Comey resign shortly after Alberto Gonzales replaced John Ashcroft? This might have had something to do with it: “Soon after Gonzales became attorney general, his then chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, told Comey that Gonzales’s ‘vision’ was to merge the deputy’s office with Gonzales’s own office. That meant that Comey would have lost some of his autonomy, becoming less of a leader and more of a senior staff member. A source close to Sampson says he merely wanted Gonzales and Comey to operate as a ‘seamless leadership team,’ with ‘harmony rather than conflict,’ and never meant to ‘degrade the status or authority’ of the deputy. Comey didn’t buy it. ‘You may want to try that with the next deputy attorney general,’ Comey is said to have responded to Sampson. ‘But it’s not going to work with me.'”
* If you’ve been on a space station for the last couple of months and need to catch up, the NYT has a good editorial summarizing why the Justice Department scandal matters.
* When the British military decided to let gays serve openly seven years ago, U.K.’s right predicted a series of problems. None of them came to fruition and the issue is now considered non-controversial in Britain. Go figure.
* The WaPo reported, on the front page no less, than Dems are better at Republicans in online activism. Didn’t everyone already know this?
* Jimmy Carter apparently caused quite a stir when he said over the weekend that Bush’s tenure in the White House was “the worst in history” in terms of international relations. The Bush gang quickly slammed Carter yesterday, calling him “irrelevant,” prompting Carter to say his comments had been “misinterpreted.”
* In one of those laugh-out-loud moments that could only come from a House Republican, Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), whose home was recently raided by the FBI, believes he’s the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by Democrats in the Bush administration. He doesn’t appear to be kidding.
* Worried about a spate of recess appointments, Harry Reid has an idea: “Reid has a little trick up his sleeve that could spell an end to President Bush’s devilish recess appointments of controversial figures like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. We hear that over the long August vacation, when those types of summer hires are made, Reid will call the Senate into session just long enough to force the prez to send his nominees who need confirmation to the chamber. The talk is he will hold a quickie ‘pro forma’ session every 10 days, tapping a local senator to run the hall.” I’m not sure this will work, but I like the outside-the-box thinking.
* I haven’t been following the new ethics charges against Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) too closely, but Paul Kiel has a good rundown.
* Shakesville has a fascinating item about Malalai Joya, who just lost her seat in the Afghani house of parliament, after referring to the legislative body as being like a “stable or zoo.” Although the BBC billed Joya in January of last year as, “one of the most popular MPs in Afghanistan,” she has nonetheless been the target of four assassination attempts and her home has been bombed.
* This ought to be a fascinating book: “Investigative reporter Murray Waas broke several key stories on the Plame/CIA leak affair for the National Journal, and now his book on the case will appear June 5 — the day Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby is sentenced to prison. The book, ‘The United States v. I. Lewis Libby,’ is published by Union Square Press/Sterling Publishing. Waas edited it and provided new reporting.”
* And finally, if you watch one YouTube clip today, make sure it’s this one: “Godfather IV: Fredo’s Revenge.” It puts the James Comey/Alberto Gonzales story in exactly the right light. (thanks a million to Bailey for the best laugh I’ve had all day)
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.