KIMBERLY STRASSEL: Spitzer’s media enablers. “Journalism has many functions, but perhaps the most important is keeping tabs on public officials. . . . Yet from the start, the press corps acted as an adjunct of Spitzer power, rather than a skeptic of it.”

GAY PATRIOT ON Larry Craig and Eliot Spitzer.

UPDATE: Comparing Eliot Spitzer and Bill Clinton. “I know there are distinctions, but what are the morally and legally relevant ones? Here is one: Many people believe that prostitution should be legal; no one believes that perjury should be legal. . . . But this much is certainly true. Spitzer is a hundred times more of a hypocrite than Clinton.”

STRYKER CREWS IN IRAQ defend their rides.

PROMISING CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION in Arizona.

VIOLATING HOUSE RULES to pass an ethics bill?

IT’S NOT JUST AS GOVERNOR: SPITZER HAS USED HOOKERS FOR 10 YEARS: SOURCES. If true, that means he was paying ’em while he was prosecuting ’em.

GEORGE W. BUSH, still President.

GEORGE BUSH MAKES big news on the Fairness Doctrine.

GERALDINE FERRARO, 1988: “If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race.” No, really.

UPDATE: “Don’t call me a racist, you racist!”

ANOTHER DISASTER-PREPAREDNESS LIST, with a secondary focus on . . . zombies? I don’t think that 200-watt inverter will be powering a table saw, though.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Cutting out the cardinals:

Senior Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee claim that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has left them out of discussions about a moratorium on earmarks, marking a departure from the inclusive leadership style she has employed for much of her reign.

As some appropriators grumbled, Democrats on Tuesday inched closer to an earmark moratorium, a move that would infuriate many appropriators.

“It’s going to happen,” said an irritated Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. Others were more circumspect.

I hope his irritation is justified.

UPDATE: Justin Higgins thinks I’m too pro-Democrat on this issue: “I can’t help but feel that your coverage on earmarks is one-sided, and that you’re actually under-representing some of the positive moves folks like John Boehner are making. He blogged about earmarks on my site and made the case clear that they welcome Pelosi and the Dems on an earmark moratorium, but they were pushing the issue first.” Um, okay.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Gregory Hill emails: “The Dems are in charge right now, so they’re the ones making policy. The Republicans had their chance; and blew it in a huge way. That’s why they’re not in charge anymore. If earmark reform was such a big deal to them, then why didn’t they make a big deal of it when they had a chance to make a difference?” Yeah, I seem to remember asking them that a time or two.

FOX CALLS MISSISSIPPI FOR OBAMA. Oh, and for McCain.

UPDATE: A racial split:

The black turnout was not actually as large as some expected. It amounted to 48% of the electorate.

Obama won the black vote, 91% to 9%. Clinton won the white vote, 72% to 27%.

Obama still won.

UPDATE: Stephen Green: “But is all really said and done in the Democratic race? Is there no more fun to be had as Obama coasts his way to the nomination? Oh, hell no! The fun is just getting started. . . . It’s like 1968 all over again, but with cleaner clothes and better haircuts. Mostly, anyway.” Uh oh. I didn’t like 1968 very much the first time around. Except for Tonja Stromholm, who sat next to me in second grade.

OBAMA MEMO: “No Support For Claim That Clinton Has Passed `Commander-In-Chief Test.'”

MORE ON THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE’S ban on women ski-jumpers.

UPDATE: More video here.

THE REST HE WASTED: Spitzer may have spent as much as $80,000 on hookers. Plus this: “Democrats privately floated another option, telling The Associated Press that Spitzer was considering what was almost unthinkable immediately after Monday’s bombshell apology: hanging on.”

ED MORRISSEY: Mullahs or Mounties? Which do we prefer? I dunno; who’s bribed more members of Congress?

PAYING BAD TEACHERS to quit.

WHY HILLARY is silent on Spitzer.

THIS ELECTION JUST GETS WEIRDER:

Finally, the Barack Obama campaign has found a big gun to help shoot down Hillary Rodham Clinton’s self-proclaimed foreign policy experience. And he may be the wackiest gun of all: Sinbad, the actor, who has come out from under a rock to defend Obama in the war over foreign policy credentials.

Sinbad? Oh, right. He’s mad at Saturday Night Live, too: ‘”My problem is — you couldn’t just temporarily hire a black man to play Obama? You had to put a white man in a black face? You couldn’t find a light-skinned brother to play Obama?” Or maybe somebody like . . . Sinbad?

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Let me see if I’ve got this straight: a white man is not allowed to portray a half-white man (Barack Obama) on SNL, but a black man is? Race relations in this country are a bigger joke than anything you’ll see on SNL.” President Clinton wanted a national conversation on race. Looks like they’ve got one going now.

ANOTHER UPDATE: “Is Obama black or white? Yes.” I’m well aware of the one-drop rule. What’s changed, though, is who seems most interested in enforcing it.

MORE: I’m suddenly reminded of the Seinfeld episode in which Elaine thinks she’s part of an interracial couple, but isn’t.

And here’s still more, from the Assistant Village Idiot.

CHOOSING PORK OVER ACCOUNTABILITY: Now there’s a surprise.

ANOTHER PROSTITUTION SCANDAL — in Tehran.

UH OH: “Barack Obama’s White House campaign lashed out in fury Tuesday after a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter attributed his stunning march through US politics to his race.” But isn’t that a big part of his appeal? Isn’t that what Michelle Obama meant when she said she was finally proud of America?

UPDATE: Reader William Salter says no:

No, I think the phenomenon of Obama is not because of his race, but irrespective of his race. And while it is true that no one would ever say James K. Polk won irrespective of HIS race, and so we do – indeed – still see some aspects of the world in racial terms, there is a world of difference between the race-hustling of a David Duke or Jesse Jackson, and Barack Obama running as someone who happens to be black just as John McCain happens to be white. The truth is, as always, the opposite of anything that comes from the mouth of Geraldine Ferraro: who, other than a candidate expressly making herself out as a victim of sexism while simultaneously running on the virtues of being a spouse, and losing 11 primaries in a row and being behind in delegates and the popular vote, could still be considered viable if she weren’t running as the woman candidate, rather than a candidate that happens to be a woman?

Hmm.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Kingshuk Roy emails: “Why was Obama selected to speak at the 2004 Democratic Convention? At that time he had not yet won his current seat, let alone served a day in the Senate. So, it couldn’t be his experience. What was it that propelled him to national stature at that time, if not his race? I would be curious to hear his answer.”

MORE: Ferraro doubles down:

But far from backing off from her initial remark, Ferraro defended it and elaborated on it.

“Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,” Ferraro said. “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”

Plus this, in the WaPo:

There is an unappealing note of whininess to Ferraro’s comment. Is it somehow unfair for Obama to keep being black? But Ferraro is clearly right as an analytical matter. Some Obama supporters back him because they want to make history–and his race has a lot to do with their belief that he will. It is also the reason he has such strong support from African Americans, without which Clinton would be beating him.

We’re getting that “national conversation on race” at last!

MORE: Mickey Kaus: “Hillary needed that job. But they had to give it to a minority.” Now for the shot of her hands, crumpling a note from the DNC. Kaus continues: “And if Geraldine Ferraro was Gerald Ferraro, she’d be an unknown hack ex-Congressman, not a pathbreaking former vice-presidential candidate. Now Hillaryite Democrats suddenly feel the unfairness in the logic of race-based affirmative action?”

Reader Ryan emails: “If Geraldine Ferraro were a Republican radio host, she’d have been fired. But, since she’s a NYC liberal, people just disagree with her.”

Or call her thoroughly repugnant.

STILL MORE: Taylor Marsh: “Looking for racism in every moment of a white person’s political campaign is as bad as being racist. No, actually, it is racist.”

Lou Minatti differs: “This is part of the Clinton strategy. Clinton, through Ferraro, is once again making Obama’s skin color an issue for blue collar voters, this time in Pennsylvania.”

URGENT REMINDER: Back up your computer now. “On Friday, the hard drive in my barely 8-month old work MacBook croaked with no warning whatsoever. My last full back-up was 10 months ago (from a prior machine).” We were just talking about that . . . .

ALEX LONG on lawyers who get fired for whistleblowing on other lawyers.

LOOKS LIKE FUN: The 1700-pound Smart Roadster.