Tuesday Roundup: Where's Gonzo?

Poor Paul Wolfowitz can't seem to get a break. He's practically pushed Alberto Gonzales off the news radar today — and as we can all imagine, that's saying quite a bit. Apparently, European leaders are so eager to see Wolfowitz go that they're willing to let the U.S. choose the World Bank's next president if he leaves. The Times makes it sound like this is a big enough carrot for the U.S. to quit backing Wolfowitz for the position — but one has to recall that by precedent, the U.S. selects the World Bank president anyway, with European countries choosing the president of the International Monetary Fund to balance things out. In other words, the U.S. already has that carrot, and prior hints that the EU wanted to take it away aren't likely to make the administration play nice-nice. The Washington Post does a good job of explaining why all this matters, and why it's turning out to be such a mess.

The latest on the Congress v. President Spending Bill Deathmatch seems to point to Democrats giving the president a bill that would fund the war until September, but would withhold more than half of those funds until after reports from the President and Gen. Petraeus in July, where they would then vote to release the rest of the funds. Apparently that compromise seems to not be ticking anyone off on either the anti-war side or the "we don't want to look weak" side of the Democratic camp, and plenty of Republicans were calling for September as a reasonable point to reanalyze this whole thing anyway. All that agreement in the House makes me a little uneasy. It never seems to fail that tepid consensus leads to weak legislation. I suppose the idea is to get through a bill with a veto-proof majority, but it would be nice if we had the sort of party unity (and chutzpah) that we used to envy of the Republicans in '94, and could just shove another timeline-based bill after another at the President. After the third run-through or so, Congressional Republicans just might begin to realize that it would then seem like the President was delaying troop support, not congressional Democrats, and that they better join in overturning the veto lest they get clobbered in the '08 generals.

Not that that would ever happen — I'm just saying it would be nice.

Though at least it seems like that Republican party unity we are so often envious of is still absent from the Texas House. After House Speaker Tom Craddick overruled a point of order that would have delayed hearing of a bill by Democratic Rep. Ryan Guillen, the House moved to challenge the ruling of the chair &mdash a remarkably rare motion, which according to the Quorum Report was last used in the House in 1973 — and overturned his ruling by a vote of 87-50. Is this a big deal or not? I don't know. When it's the Star-Telegram telling me that it's a sure sign of Craddick's doom, and the Statesman telling me that nah, it wasn't such a big deal, and imply that Craddick may have even told people to go ahead and vote against him, I start thinking the world's gone topsy turvy. Either way, it seems like quite a bit is getting through Craddick's supposed iron hand these days. Is it too late (or, perhaps with all this primary talk going around, too early) to wonder if Pitts would have actually been worse for Texas Democrats than the embattled Craddick?

It looks like we're getting very near to the end of the beginning of the TYC scandal. Yesterday night, the House passed its version of a bill which completely overhauls the Texas Youth Commission. Highlights include oversight offices of inspector general and ombudsman, lower inmate-to-staff ratios, and required background checks on employees. The Statesman points to the governing board of TYC 2.0 as the main sticking point between the House and Senate versions of the bill — the Senate went with Gov. Rick Perry's proposal of having an commissioner heading the TYC with an advisory board, whereas the House opted for an executive director and a citizen governing board. Oversight with teeth. I like that.

And finally, just so you don't finish this roundup thinking that the Lege is actually being uncommonly productive, the House passed a bill enacting a statewide smoking ban — well, sorta. And by that I mean not at all. Property owners can exempt themselves from the ban by posting a "Smoking Is Permitted" sign on the property. Somebody needs to send that in to The Daily Show. I could just see Jon Stewart covering this: "That's it, Texans! It's a smoking ban! Smoking is banned! BANNED!... well, unless you don't feel like it, I guess. Whatever. Put up a sign, though! You better put up a sign!"

And just for the record, I know you read this, Jon — you better give us credit. (Love the show, by the way.)