White House spokesperson Dana Perino is steadily developing a following in the conservative blogosphere.  Most immediately she’s become an overnight sensation sparked by this statement yesterday:

And unfortunately, it seems that increasingly Congress is being run by Code Pink.

Some of the reviews include:

• Michelle Malkin: “The White House smacks the Dems over Code Pink.  About time.”
• Wake Up America: “Perino is right, the Democrats and congress, are, indeed, being run by Code Pink these days.”
• Commenter at Hot Air:  “Dana Perino for Wonder Woman.”

Meantime, the Examiner’s Yeas & Nays column notes others who have started paying attention:

On Tuesday, reporter Connie Lawn asked her how it feels “when you’re parodied the way you are today and this week in Doonesbury, or the way you are on the ‘Daily Show’? How do you really feel? Does it get under your skin?”

But Perino wouldn’t bite. “I hardly have time to check it out,” she said, before moving on to the next question.

Not sure if the Fairness Doctrine covers botanical gardens, but here’s something curious we learn today:

GARDEN TOUR, GLOBAL WARMING MOVIE, a tour of Meadowlark Botanical Gardens followed by an outdoor screening of former vice president Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” Bring lawn chairs or blankets; food for sale; sponsored by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. 3 p.m., 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Ct., Vienna. Free. 703-255-3631 or http://www.nvrpa.org.

In the interest of equal time, I sure hope the Park Authority next sponsors “Red Dawn.”

In the early days of the Democratic-controlled Congress, there was much ballyhooed bluster about a five-day work week.

No more.

The Washington Post today:

But the pace has slowed down lately, as Democrats have canceled Friday voting sessions this month amid growing complaints from their own caucus about not being home to see constituents.

Thus the age-old dilemma continues: better to have Congress in session or out?  Yes, it may be a broken promise, but at least your money is safer on Fridays now.

Political rhetoric got a bit hotter today.

Dana Perino was asked this question during today’s White House press briefing:

Dana, this morning Secretary Rice testified in front of the House Foreign Relations Committee and said that errors were made in the case of Maher Arar — the rendition of Arar to Syria, where he was tortured, and that changes have to be made. Is the White House aware of this? And if so, what sort of changes is the administration thinking of in cases of rendition?

Perino’s response (and we’ve added emphasis):

I’m not — I didn’t have a chance to see her testimony because I was in the Cabinet Room, so we’ll have to get back to you. And I would also note — I saw a picture from that hearing where a lady in Code Pink with red painted on her hands disrupted the hearing. And I think it’s despicable. And unfortunately, it seems that increasingly Congress is being run by Code Pink. We do thank Chairman Lantos for trying to restore order to that hearing.

Congress is being run by Code Pink?  We’re curious to see how that comment goes over with other folks who run Congress.

Here’s an odd victim of the California wildfires: lawsuits.

California’s attorney general said Tuesday he will postpone a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency because of the massive wildfires in Southern California.
Attorney General Jerry Brown told The Associated Press that California would not sue the agency today as he had planned. Instead, he will likely sue next week.
“The governor would rather do this next week,” Brown said. “He’s totally focused on the fires.”

Boy, when even lawsuits get rescheduled, you know it’s a bad situation.

The Washington Post piece “As Campaigns Chafe at Limits, Donors Might Be in Diapers” has lots of fun stuff.  Like this:

Although campaign finance laws set a limit of $2,300 per donor per campaign, they do not explicitly bar donors based on age. And young donors abound in the fundraising reports filed by presidential contenders this year.  A supporter of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R), Susan Henken of Dover, Mass., wrote her own $2,300 check, and her 13-year-old son, Samuel, and 15-year-old daughter, Julia, each wrote $2,300 checks, for example. Samuel used money from his bar mitzvah ….

His bar mitzvah?  Couldn’t young Samuel just have planted some trees in Israel instead?

(Real-life explanation from Deadspin: “As you might have heard or remembered, here’s the shot of Larry King from “Football Night In America” the other night. It’s like his brain exploded but remained inside his skull.”)

The CIA is offering this “terrorist buster” pin …

Color me hopelessly nostalgic, but I prefer the throwback version of terror fighting …

Fairfax County, Virginia, has got a donnybrook of a campaign going, with Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) seeking a second term as chairman Nov. 6 against  Republican challenger, Gary H. Baise.

So what will this mega-campaign pivot on during the closing days?  Would you believe those sweet harmless libertarian folks at Reason?

From today’s Washington Post:

Connolly also criticized Baise for relying on “The Road More Traveled,” a book he described as a “right-wing screed” against mass transit, as the basis for some of his transportation positions. The book, written by two scholars of the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to free markets and limited government, emphasizes adding lanes to existing roads, eliminating parking subsidies and increasing the efficiency of traffic signals to check congestion.

You know, massive movements often are inspired by books.  “Silent Spring.”  “Little Red Book.”  “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”  “Leviticus.”  And now this subversive and treacherous tome:

The Washington Post today reports on “Running Mates; It’s a Tricky Role, but Somebody Has to Be the Candidate’s Spouse.”

Only problem is, we’re kind of confused who that somebody is.

The chart accompanying the article shows Mike Huckabee married to someone named Janet McCain.  John McCain is married to someone named Cindy Hensley.

At least the article got Dennis Kucinich’s wife Elizabeth correct.  It gives us the opportunity to do this: