Risky Business

"Million Little Pieces publisher Doubleday, still smarting from its initial defense of Frey's best-selling book, is running an advertisement in today's USA TODAY apologizing to readers.

"And Riverhead, the publisher of Pieces sequel My Friend Leonard, is trying to distance itself from Frey. Riverhead is reconsidering a contract with Frey for future books and is referring inquiries about the authenticity of events in My Friend Leonard to the author."

John Kerry has been getting kicked around for urging an Alito filibuster, but Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum gives a thumbs-up:

"Would this end up hurting Democrats? It might. And the end result would probably be the spectacle of Bill Frist and Dick Cheney ramming through the 'nuclear option' to force debate to a close and install Alito on the Supreme Court regardless.

"But in politics, if you only fight when you're sure of victory, you're never going to fight at all. Senate Dems blew the Judiciary Committee hearings as a chance to educate the country about Alito's radical views on presidential power, and a filibuster fight would give them a second chance. They should take it."

Betsy's Page, however, disapproves:

"Could there be anything more typical of John Kerry than that he would be calling for a filibuster of Samuel Alito's nomination from Switzerland?. . . .

"It seems that Kerry is traveling down the same path that Al Gore has been traveling. Maybe the realization that you have lost to George W. Bush just sends these guys into a tailspin where they end up clutched in the embrace of the Moveon.org and Kos crowd and they lose all touch with political reality."

Finally, I've heard a lot of campaign vows in my time, but this one, via Reuters, is the strangest I've ever encountered:

"Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is famous for his ambitious promises, but he is unlikely to be called to task if he breaks his latest pledge: not to have sex before the April 9 general election."