about the "All Terror" weekend, although that sounds about right. Let it sink in and get those poll numbers back up sounds like their strategy.

I did, however, hear on the satellite radio about an hour ago that Rehnquist has in fact resigned verbally. The radio said that they were going to release the "letter/news/etc" at 9pm EST tonight.

Guess it's wait and see, but Josh's freind's scenario sounds quite likely.

A weekend of discussing terror will surely benefit Bush, certainly moreso than a weekend discussing SCOTUS.  Why?  Terror brings the Right together, which is exactly what Rove needs when it comes time to deliver SCOTUS to American Religious Extremists. 

Novak set the announcement at 4:50 PM this afternoon, and I assumed he meant Eastern or Central.  Unless he was talking PST, he was WRONG! 

I'll just wait and believe it when I see it.

As an aside, I'd like to describe what is on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 program at this moment.  No, it's not another discussion of the London terror attacks.  No, it's not another update on a white girl.  No, it's not a discussion of a possible Rove leak.  It's a reporter standing in front of a wind machine simulating hurricane force winds.  Five minutes of a guy in a rain slicker telling us that 60mph wind is dangerous.  Thanks, CNN.  Everytime I turn on this channel, I am quickly reminded why I quit watching corporate news.  I guess I could flip over to CNN Headline news so I can watch Showbiz Tonight...  Grrrrrrrrrr. 

I doubt that this will generate a bump for Bush, and I agree that it will generate a lot of questions about the status of the war on terror, etc.  However, this has charged his fanatic base (gauged on the responses from the conservatives I work with). 

I know this won't bring the Right completely together during SCOTUS discussion, but this event has reminded Bush's base that this is a war between Them and Everybody Different.  This may be enough for Bush to be able to slip a moderate into the court accompanied by an extremist without splitting his base in half (or third or whatever).  

Bush's followers can all unite under the Terror Umbrella.  That certainly isn't possible with the Abortion Umbrella.  Actually, is there any other Umbrella that unites his base as well?   

Any further information on that satellite radio report? Which station, any context, any confirmation? I've been live-blogging the (non)events of this afternoon/evening over at ChargingRINO - it's been quite interesting to watch how these rumors have gone over the past few hours!

Does nobody else see the possibility the Chief Justice Rehnquist and the White House have decided to delay the announcement out of respect for the people of England who did in the attacks and their families?

Must everything be some sort of conspiracy? Sometime things are done for the right reasons.  How could changing the day of the announcement affect the outcome of the new SCOTUS appointments?  

That figures. It's entirely logical and in character for this administration.

I quoted and linked to this post.

I wondered whether Rehnquist was holding off on making his annnoucement public so that it wouldn't be drowned out by the terrorism story. Turns out it was the White House's hubris, not the Justice's. Silly me.

You guys are neglecting to mention the real tragedy here: all the law clerks that are suddenly out of work!

Rehnquist plays coy.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/09/politics/09rehnquist.html?hp&am p;ex=1120881600&en=c47fab6ca0edb1bf&ei=5094&partner=h omepage 

R of C wonders:

Must everything be some sort of conspiracy? Sometime things are done for the right reasons.  How could changing the day of the announcement affect the outcome of the new SCOTUS appointments?  

With this gang, unfortunately, yes. They lost the benefit of the doubt many, many moons ago.

Remember this golden oldie from John Delulio via Ron Suskind:

"There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," says DiIulio. "What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis." 

As I recall, Delulio woke up next to a horse's head the morning after this appeared.

Sadly, Josh is right. It wouldn't suprise me at all either.

P. S. I mean it wouldn't suprise me if the WH was playing politics, not if Josh was right. Josh is right most of the time.

Hmmm, what would I suggest for Rehnquist's out-of-work clerks?  Well, Iraq is always an option.  Perhaps they have a bit of tailoring experience...  (It's too bad we're losing our Gold-Banded Justice AND Justice Doily.  I can only hope their replacements can introduce a new generation of style for the court.)

old gold 30 asked 

do you think the brass of the GOP really wants to dissolve [abortion]? 

I don't believe they do.  The Eight Circuit court in St. Louis today voted down the partial birth abortion ban, reaffirming what other courts on the coasts have ruled.  A new attack on all abortion will open new discourse on sexuality and freedom, and I'm not sure that it will play to the Far Right's favor. I'm not sure if it would be like another Schiavo fiasco, but I think it's possible. 

After the pounding they took on the Ft. Bragg speech, I don't think that the WH cares if the weekend news is All Terrorism or All Terriers.

The gameplan is ABI (Anything But Iraq).

The problem with this All Terror All the Time theory is that the latest attacks

1. Explode the Flypaper Theory

2. Show that the "War on Terror" is not being won

3. Emphasize the criminal folly of letting bin Laden remain at large in Pakistan.

Maybe the White House is this dumb, on the other hand.

"Must everything be some sort of conspiracy? Sometime things are done for the right reasons."

The day I get an abject apology from every Rightist who insisted that the almost successful cruise missile attack on Bin Ladin by Clinton was an attempt to displace attention to his testimony about Monica that same day is the day I will give any credit to this kind of plea.

You reap what you sow. Republicans demanded a multimillion dollar investigation of Agriculture Secretary Espy because he accepted Final Four tickets from his ex-roommate who happened to be a lobbyist for Tyson Foods. They demanded a similar multimillion dollar investigation  of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown because (gasp?) he might have allowed campaign contributers to have preference on a junket to Europe. They insisted that the President of the United States conversations with his White House attorneys and his conversations with foreign leaders were not subject to any kind of privilege.

While Cheney's conversations with oil lobbyists is subject to total privilege.

Gingrich poisoned the well with the Wag the Dog accusation. We were this close to nailing Osama two years before 9/11 and the entire Right was sneering and making baseless charges. It is a little belated to be asking "Can we just get along?"

Not everything went down the memory hole. If half of what we already know Delay/Abramoff/Reed/Cunningham  did had happened in the Clinton Administration we would have been even more ass deep in Special Investigators than we were at the time.

Cry me a river.

The White House is not this dumb, but do you think that our librul media is going to be writing or talking a lot about items 1, 2, or 3 above?
Our librul media would much rather be printing and showing pictures of 
1. exploded busses,
2.  cell phone pictures on deadly tube trains 
3. and the wreckage of hurricane Dennis—oops, that doesn't play into the all terror all the time but you can be sure that they won't be linking any of that to climate change either!

IMHO these rumors were planted by the Bush Administration to pressure the justices (note the roles of Novak and Drudge). If I were in the justices' shoes and saw these rumors in print, they would make me want to stay on as long as I could.

Sirius Left, 143. Sorry for the late response. There was really no context, just a two-sentence statement during before going to commercial.

I've found myself wondering whether Novak is actually a double agent. Is he actually dropping his tidbits in ways to produce maximum humiliation among those who gave them to him? (In this case, providing clear evidence that the WH knew about Rehnquist's retirement and decided to sit on it for reasons we can speculate about).