What Would Cheney Say?

"Q. Okay. And do you recall when it was that he mused about that?

"A. I think it was after the Wilson column.

"Q. Okay. And obviously --

"A. I don't mean the Wilson column. I'm sorry, I misspoke. I think it was after the Novak column. . . . "

The Zinsmeister

Yesterday's column noted the White House announcement that Karl Zinsmeister will replace Claude Allen as Bush's chief domestic policy adviser.

Elisabeth Bumiller writes in the New York Times that "it is unclear whether Mr. Zinsmeister will give his new White House job any clout because Karl Rove, the president's powerful political aide, has effectively operated as Mr. Bush's chief domestic policy adviser for the past five and a half years."

And she notes: "Mr. Zinsmeister is not in the mold of many other White House aides who have longtime ties to Mr. Bush or Republican administrations."

Indeed.

Josh Gerstein writes in the New York Sun: "Mr. Zinsmeister edited the American Enterprise Institute's magazine from upstate Cazenovia and was rarely seen at the conservative think tank's offices in Washington.

"In an e-mail to friends and colleagues yesterday, Mr. Zinsmeister signaled he will try to maintain an outsider's perspective on Washington, even as he takes up his West Wing post. He said he and his family plan to live in Baltimore, some 40 miles away. . . .

"In a 2004 interview with the Syracuse New Times , the future White House aide declared, 'People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings.'"

Constitutional Clash

Carl Hulse writes in the New York Times: "The constitutional clash pitting Congress against the executive branch escalated Wednesday as the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House demanded the immediate return of materials seized by federal agents when they searched the office of a House member who is under investigation in a corruption case. . . .