Today’s shorter-than-usual edition of quick hits.
* David Vitter has one big thing to be thankful for today: “A federal judge spared Sen. David Vitter an embarrassing appearance on the witness stand in a federal prostitution case when she abruptly canceled a hearing scheduled for next week. The Louisiana Republican was under subpoena to testify about his ties to a Washington escort service. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is accused of running a prostitution ring, had sought to question Vitter about whether he paid for sex. But U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler canceled the hearing yesterday, saying it served no purpose in the criminal case. She said the Vitter subpoena only reinforced her belief that Palfrey wanted to use the hearing to get around the rules of evidence.”
* AP: “A Supreme Court stacked with judges loyal to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf cleared the way Thursday for him to rule as a civilian president, throwing out a final challenge to last month’s election. Stepping down as army chief will help Musharraf blunt criticism from opposition parties and foreign governments of his imposition of emergency measures on Nov. 3. The court decision, which was widely expected after Musharraf purged it of independent-minded judges, means the Election Commission can put a stamp of approval on the October vote that won him a third five-year term. Musharraf has said that once he got a favorable court decision, he would quickly hang up his uniform and take the oath as a civilian. Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum has said such a move could come as early as Saturday.”
* For quite a while, the Bush administration has criticized an influx of foreign insurgents from Iran, Syria, and Lebanon who enter Iraq and wreak havoc. As it turns out, the argument is flawed on both counts: there’s not much of an influx, and foreign fighters are coming from countries relatively friendly to the U.S.
* Bob Woodward really needs to keep up on current events: he has no idea what vote-caging is. (Note to Mr. Woodward: I’ve made it easy for you.)
* Oh my: “In his ‘My Word’ segment this afternoon, Fox News pundit John Gibson applauded the White House’s decision to blow the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. ‘I’m the guy who said a long, long time ago that whoever outed Valerie Plame should get a medal,’ Gibson said. ‘And if it was Karl Rove, I’d pin it on him myself.’ Gibson argued the outing of Plame was justified because ‘this was about an anti-Bush cabal at the CIA’ that needed to be ‘rooted out.'”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-Thanksgiving-day open thread.