Who knew that Karl Rove was even physically able to be promoted?

During President Bush's first term, outsiders often suspected that Karl Rove was really behind virtually everything. Now it's official.

"Jeff Gannon"/James Guckert turns out to be even more of a creep than he originally appeared:

Adding another twist, NPR's David Folkenflik, in his report Wednesday night, referred to revelations arising from liberal blogs earlier in the day, connecting Gannon to sexual Web sites such as HotMilitaryStud.com, among others.

"These sites are registered to an address in Delaware that's the same as one held by a James Guckert," Folkenflik said. "And that's the name that Gannon used to apply for press credentials on Capitol Hill....As for those Web sites, Gannon said he created them for clients of a software company he used to work for. And Gannon said his Christian faith has enabled him to receive forgiveness for the sins of his past."

Craig Ferguson last night:

The president announced today new budget slashes, and he's slashing education. It's an ingeniuous plan: when the kids graduate, they won't have the math skills to calculate how much debt they're actually in.

Fox moralizes:

Fox also dropped the word "damn" from a special edition of Fox Sports cable program "Best Damn Sports Show Period" which it showed on the main network.

Fox changed "Damn" to "Darn" for the nationwide broadcast audience, and it cut out the audio after one of the hosts repeatedly said "damn." Fox said it had planned to send a different take of the episode to affiliates for broadcast.

To descend into blatant editorialization for a second: Give me a goddamn break. Fox preposterously disallows the word "damn," out of some supposed desire to increase their morality quotient, and then turns around and shows episodes of "Meet Your New Mommy." (Forgive the FCC-unfriendly curse word, but) Rupert Murdoch is an enormous shitbag.

A direct cut-and-paste from Hotline's Last Call:

We knew the ex-Presidents Club was distinguished, but who knew you got such snappy blazers?

Former Democratic congressmen are almost always good for a laugh...

A former congressman who resigned after being convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker has been ordered to leave his Chicago home because it is near an elementary school.

Incidentally, it would appear that the court also ordered him to identify himself to his new neighbors by wearing the instantly-recognizeable eyeglasses common to all sex offenders.

Take that, conservative Democrats!

Tim Roemer, the only remaining opponent of Howard Dean in the race to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Monday he's bowing out of the race - but he offered a warning to Democrats.

John Edwards in Manchester ("in what appeared to be an early start for the 2008 campaign cycle"):

"It may seem like an impossible goal to end poverty, but that's what the skeptics said about all of our other great challenges," said Mr. Edwards, the former vice-presidential candidate. "If we can put a man on the moon, conquer polio and put libraries of information on a chip, then we can end poverty for those who want to work for a better life."

"Conquer polio"? What is this, 1962? Surely he could think of something a little more recent, couldn't he?

The featured product on shop.mlb.com: "Football championship merchandise." Go figure.

Best Superbowl commercial: the Ameriquest "Surprise Dinner" spot, with the white cat and the tomato sauce.