Rummy swings for the fences and/or begins his new Rope-a-Dope plan

The first of this morning's "You've GOT To Be Kidding Me!" stories is the realization that House Republicans think the Abramhoff issue is no big deal. By picking John "It's Not Boner It's" Boehner who was the House Republican Liason to the K Street Project and has spoken recently about how House Republicans were overreacting, they've played their hand. Roy Blunt goes nowhere - stays Majority Whip and remains the eyes and ears and mouth of Tom Delay in the Leadership. Hastert only stayed sober long enough to get through that Conference vote. He'll be a wreck today. Look for Boehner (who looks and sounds like drunken Chevy Chase in the role of the crooked politician) to stub his toes pretty darn often in the months ahead as he stumbles toward the cameras. For the Dems, it only helps soil the Majority to add more whispers of lobbyist-supplied taint. Whether they can act on the Majority's taint, is another story altogether.

Secondly, with all the crap going horribly wrong for the Pentagon they certainly didn't need Rummy's speech at the National Press Club yesterday. Aside from dealing with the "Long War" assessment given for the struggle with al Qaeda, Rummy had the impending leak of the size of the new appropriations request. The new total through September for the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - $331 Billion. This year will cost $120 Billion. $10 Billion a month. For the foreseeable future (until at least a year from now). For all the work the Bushies have done to quash the usage, it's an absolute quagmire. But there are other parts of the World, and yesterday Rummy pointed a horribly misguided finger at our own hemisphere. He compared the election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to the election of Hitler in Germany. Seriously. And even though that's enough to tag him criminally insane and dangerous, Rummy went on to belabor the point about how often times Democracy comes back to bite you in the ass. I think I smell an exit strategy justification for Iraq forming...

Our Other Nanny, Collette, showed this morning freshly back from Utah where she saw some films at Sundance. It took Maya a moment to deal with the curveball of it not being Megan, so we chatted for a few minutes and she said that "Little Miss Sunshine" was the hit of the Festival from her point of view. Greg Kinear, Toni Collette and Steve Carrell. I see HUGEness in Steve Carrell's future. But he'll still always be mostly Produce Pete to me. Hope your own sketches kill all day. Rock on.