Guckert Muck - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

The DC Dems are mounting a snotty defense of the Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). While the rest of the country yawns, Howie Kurtz takes a look at the fundraising letter that got Harry all steamed as well as some sent out recently by the DNC. If you're a political junkie, it's worth a looksie just to see how "the permanent campaign" has become even more intense. And piddly.

Speaking of "permanent campaign," it's all over but the whining for Howard Dean's ascension to the DNC Chair (the official vote is Saturday). Nothing really surprising in the spin thus far. Dan Balz gets a quote from an unnamed labor official that reads: "The question for all of us is, will he act as chairman of the Democratic Party or president of the Democrats, and what makes people nervous is the latter." Various papers give all-over-the-map ratings of thumbs up (Houston Chronicle), mocking "Scream" references (New York Post), and loads of bad-pun headlines using some sort of "Dean of the Party" shtick (Seattle P-I). I just hope someone buys him a few more shirts that fit his neck as a welcoming gift to the job.

The blogosphere continues to run with the Jeff Gannon/JD Guckert story. I saw Guckert (his real name - he said he chose the psuedonym Gannon because "it's easier to pronounce") interviewed by Wolf Blitzer yesterday afternoon. What a shifty, unapologetic sleazeball (Guckert, not Wolf who's just a well-groomed joke). And now Guckert's trying to claim that he's entertaining offers to work for other conservative shilltanks. If the Plame story continues to flame up in Guckert's direction, I doubt anyone will take a chance on him. But that's probably just wishful thinking. Regardless, it's good to know that JD's got those creepy domain names to fall back on to support "his family" (as described to Wolf, "family" means his mother, brother and sister-in-law). Hotmilitarystud.com seems the most promising, but I'm sure there are some other winners in the list.

A friend in Boston (thanks for the link, Ben) sent along an online diary by another Eric Magnuson that he stumbled upon when Googling for a specific guitar he's coveting. Lots of strip club and asian food menu descriptions from this goofball's "Adventures." I don't endorse his observations, but I do endorse his silliness as a perfect way to waste 10 minutes of your otherwise valuable time.

Still no baby on this end. So we're distracting ourselves by doing our taxes, hanging up pictures around the apartment and enjoying the San Francisco February weather. Pics to come as soon as there's something worth shooting besides Sarah's epic belly.