Because every newspaper should have the right to regurgitate White House talking points in its unsigned editorials.

Novak:

George W. Bush’s agents have convinced conservative Republican senators who were heartsick over his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court that they must support her to save his presidency. But that does not guarantee her confirmation. Ahead are hearings of unspeakable ugliness that can be prevented only if Democratic senators exercise unaccustomed restraint.
. . .
Officials charged with winning Miers’ confirmation told me neither of these issues is troublesome, but in fact they suggest incompetence and neglect by the White House. To permit a conference call with scores of participants hearing close associates of the nominee predict her vote on abortion is incompetent. To nominate somebody implicated in a state lottery dispute in the past without carefully considering the consequences goes beyond incompetence to arrogant neglect.

“Unspeakable ugliness,” coupled with what we heard yesterday about Miers’ “incomplete” questionnaire suggest we have a nominee who, to put it nicely, isn’t ready for prime time. We’re seeing a lot of that these days. So much so that confirmation votes now are apparently being pitched by the White House itself as loyalty votes rather than affirmations of the merits of the candidates.

You are a candidate for a prestigious job, a position many people are claiming you’re not qualified for. The search committee gives you a questionnaire. In an effort to silence your critics, you go the extra mile and do a thorough job responding to the questionnaire, right?
Not if you’re Harriet Miers:

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was asked by the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to clarify some of the answers she provided this week in a questionnaire their panel sent to her.
At a news conference, Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat, described many of her written responses as “incomplete” and “insufficient.”
“Please prepare a supplement to your responses” in a number of areas “with as much detail, particularity and precision as possible,” they wrote in a letter to Miers.

Ha. CNN reported that she had some one-word answers to some of the questions. Huh? This woman is wanting to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, right? It doesn’t seem this is the wisest strategy to get there.

If the New York Daily News is correct, (and Josh Marshall notes this article should carry weight), then President Bush and the White House has some explaining to do regarding statements suggesting they didn’t know about Rove’s leaking in PlameGate.
These guys couldn’t have lied to the American people, could they? Say it ain’t so.

Wow. Wilma went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in one day. As far as pressure goes, it has tied the record for the second strongest Atlantic hurricane. The eye is only 2 miles across.
I assume it won’t stay like this for long, but that’s an incredible explosion in power.