MICKEY KAUS: “Why is nearly every top Republican (Bush, Hastert, Sensenbrenner) suddenly babbling about ‘appropriations,’ using the same weasely, Clintonian syntax? It would be crazy not to be paranoid.”

If the GOP is this stupid, they deserve the brutal drubbing at the polls that will result. Message to the White House: You blew it on Harriet Miers and Dubai Ports because you ignored the early-warning signals from the blogs. You can’t afford another such disaster, so if Kaus is right here, you’d better rethink, pronto.