A little sympathy for Jeffrey Toobin

The wonderful writer for the New Yorker and legal affairs analyst for CNN was thoroughly in the wrong place today — caught covering the Michael Vick non-event on the same day as Alberto Gonzales resigned. Watched Toobin briefly on CNN and could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew he was missing THE story.

I am fascinated to see who the White House comes up with for a replacement for Gonzales. It has been a post continually filled by the 2nd dimmest bulb in the administration. One person on meeting Mr. Ashcroft was shocked at how dumb he was, to which another person said, “Well, don’t forget he did lose an election to a dead guy.” To give Mr. Ashcroft his due, though, the more we find out about his refusal to renew secret wire-tapping efforts the more he seems like a truly stand-up guy.

In Re: Mr. Vick

Gotta say the most irritating thing about his little non confession was the literal “come to Jesus” moment.

Michael Vick, speaking to the media in Richmond, says he has found Jesus and turned his life over to God.

Even if he has done so there’s no way this announcement made on the day he is pleading guilty to a felony can be perceived as anything but spin. I hope Mr. Vick has indeed found a moral guide, whomever that may be. But a suggestion to all those celebs who are seeking actual redemption and not just redemption in the public eye: keep it to yourself until we can see actions that show you really are practicing what He preached.

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Quote of the day: Bush wants Americans to have “a command of the English language.”

"What the president has said all along is that he wants to make sure that people who become American citizens have a command of the English language." — Tony Snow, new White House Press guy on Friday.
"The president has never supported making English the national language." — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales later on Friday.

"The attorney general got caught in a linguistic snare. He took 'national' language to mean what we describe as 'official' language." –White House spokeswoman Dana Perino even later on Friday.

Remember, having a command of English should be a requirement to become a citizen but not to become president or attorney general. Irony hasn't had this much fun since Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Also on Friday, the Senate has voted to make English the nation's "common and unifying language." OK, all in favor of a rule stating that members of the Senate must be able to  write a simple declarative sentence, say AYE. That will work much better than term limits.

"The only man woman, or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead." — HL Mencken on the death of Warren Harding.