Let’s dispense with this quickly, shall we?

When Howard Dean speaks, he’s speaking as the chairman of the Democratic Party. The Democrats pay him. If there are Democrats who don’t like what Dean says, then they can stop donating to the party (they ought to have sense enough to keep their disagreements private, but that's tangential).

When Dick Durbin speaks, he’s representing the people of Illinois, to whom he will answer when he’s up for re-election.

When Karl Rove speaks, he speaks as an official with the White House. He is no longer simply an evil-genius-political-operative extraordinaire, he's also responsible for shaping policy and stuff, due to his not-so-recent promotion. The only person he’s accountable to is the President of the United States, who has no intention of asking Rove to apologize.

Karl Rove is paid by each and every American taxpayer. He represents all of us.

The new L'Auberge du Lac is very nice ...

... it is certainly now the nicest casino in southwestern Louisiana (and I ought to know; I've driven Mom to all of them in recent years for some slots-o'-fun). We came over here today for her 79th birthday, and now I'm sitting in the Fairfield Inn in Beaumont getting a little business done before returning to H-Town tomorrow.

But as we gambled and then hit the buffet, and I marveled at the Tahoe-like rustic quality of their sprawling, spanking-new facility, I couldn't help but chuckle sadly thinking about how badly the Coushattas just up the road in Kinder were screwed by Michael Scanlon and Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay's butthole buddies.

Those TRMPAC indictments haven't shown up yet, but it's just a matter of time ... =)