Today's scuttlebutt is:

that John Sharp will run for governor, and that John Cornyn is on the list -- the long one, not necessarily the short one -- to be the next Supreme Court nominee.

Both developments are, if they turn out to be accurate, rather hideous.

John Sharp running for anything would simply be a mistake for both Sharp and Texas Democrats (I mentioned this just the other day). Sharp is a fine fellow, was a capable state comptroller, and has both won and lost on statewide ballots, most recently to Lite Gov. Dewhurst in 2002.

But his time has passed.

I wasn't aware that sparks have already been flying between Sharp and presumptive gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell for awhile now. So what that tells me is that he's gearing up to take a run at the top of the ticket.

There could be a few worse things, though, and one would be a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land for Senator "Box Turtle", who just a few weeks ago created a firestorm as a result of his ill-considered remarks on judicial activism.

Let me borrow from the Republicans for my advice on these two:

Flush the Johns.

Update: Pink Dome says the same thing, only a lot wittier; reveals heretofore-unknown-to-me information about Sharp's voting record in the Texas House being more conservative than Rick Perry's (of course, he was a Democrat then) and her comments posters keep the sarcasm amped.