[Guest post by DRJ]

I can’t figure out how to capture the image but the Houston Chronicle, hometown newspaper to Rudy Giuliani’s law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, still can’t spell his name:

“Front page
Jan. 29, 2008, 9:56PM

McCain, Clinton win Florida; Giuliana likely to drop out

By DAVID ESPO and LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press”

How quickly the mighty fall into obscurity.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

From today’s Manchester Union Leader (New Hampshire) editorial:

“Hillary’s word: It’s worth nothing

COURTING VOTERS in Iowa and New Hampshire, last August Sen. Hillary Clinton signed a pledge not to “campaign or participate” in the Michigan or Florida Democratic primaries. She participated in both primaries and is campaigning in Florida. Which proves, again, that Hillary Clinton is a liar.

Clinton kept her name on the Michigan ballot when others removed theirs, she campaigned this past weekend in Florida, and she is pushing to seat Michigan and Florida delegates at the Democratic National Convention. The party stripped those states of delegates as punishment for moving up their primary dates.

“I will try to persuade my delegates to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida,” Clinton said last week, after the New Hampshire primaries and Iowa caucuses were safely over.

Clinton coldly and knowingly lied to New Hampshire and Iowa. Her promise was not a vague statement. It was a signed pledge with a clear and unequivocal meaning.

She signed it thinking that keeping the other candidates out of Michigan and Florida was to her advantage, but knowing she would break it if that proved beneficial later on. It did, and she did.

New Hampshire voters, you were played for suckers.“

H/T Extreme Mortman.

— DRJ

Beldar pronounces himself unaffected by John Fund’s report that John McCain dissed Alito.

Because, Beldar says, McCain was already a totally lost cause on judicial appointments anyway.

I’d like to think Beldar is wrong.

(Because, if McCain is the nominee — and he may be — I will vote for him. I’m not on the Professor Bainbridge “I care about the judiciary but I’m not supporting any Republican” Death Train to Nowhere.)

But, sadly, I suspect Beldar is right.

We have a better chance at good judicial nominees with McCain than with Hillary and Obama. There’s no question about that.

But it’s not like I trust the guy on the issue. To do that, I’d have to be an amnesiac or just plain stupid. And I’m no amnesiac!

[Guest post by DRJ]

Fox News shows Hillary winning decisively while the race between Romney and McCain is too close to call.

But who wants to read my posts when you have Vodkapundit writing quality commentary like this:

“The first numbers coming in, from a handful of precincts. McCain 29%, Romney 28, Giuliani and Huckabee tied at 18%, and the Ron Paul Revolution is well under way, with nearly 1,300 voters in the entire state of Florida. Or as we like to call it, the last 3% on the right hand side of the sanity bell curve.”

UPDATE @ 9:30 PM EST– It’s McCain:

“John McCain solidified his status as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination with a Florida triumph, his candidacy having come full circle in little more than a year.

“It shows one thing. I’m the conservative leader who can unite the party,” the Arizona senator said in a brief interview with The Associated Press.

He was hesitant to give himself a label and was mindful of the challenges ahead, saying: “It’s a very significant boost but I think we’ve got a tough week ahead and a lot of states to come.”

Gag me.

— DRJ

Via Instapundit comes a link to a bunch of amazing pictures of sharks leaping out of the water as they attempt to chomp on seals and such.

I didn’t even know they did that.

If these pictures weren’t backed by the seal of authenticity provided by an Official Big Media Outlet, I’d say they were all fakes. But Telegraph.co.uk would never allow such a thing, so I’ll merely declare the pictures amazing and leave it at that.

Oh, the shark has pretty teeth dear, and he shows them pearly white.

John Fund writes:

Mr. McCain bruised his standing with conservatives on the issue when in 2005 he became a key player in the so-called gang of 14, which derailed an effort to end Democratic filibusters of Bush judicial nominees. More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because “he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.”

My hostility to John McCain is well known to regular readers, and it’s tempting to believe this. But I’m not sure I do. I have a hard time believing John Fund would make up such a statement out of whole cloth — but the statement Fund attributes to McCain is inconsistent with a lot of other things McCain has said about Alito.

For example, McCain issued a statement about Alito in January 2006 that said in part:

I was pleased that the President nominated Judge Alito — as were many other members of this body. Though very favorably disposed, I reserved final judgment on his nomination out of respect for both the confirmation process and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I do not take the Senate’s advice and consent role lightly, and I did not want to encourage a rush to judgment without the benefit of public hearings.

Those hearings have occurred, and since then I have announced that I will vote to confirm Judge Alito. Through 18 hours and over 700 questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the judge demonstrated that he will be an intelligent, fair, and open-minded Justice who respects the judiciary’s important but limited role of interpreting the law. I believe that he is worthy of not only my own support, but that of other members of this body. And, certainly, this nominee deserves an up-or-down vote.

. . . .

As the president said earlier this week, “There has been no sign of any extraordinary circumstance except for this extraordinary thing — he’s extraordinarily capable to serve on the Supreme Court.” I could not agree more.

Mr. President, Judge Alito is a man of outstanding qualifications whose record as a thoughtful conservative has won my vote. Without any reasonable doubt, it has also earned the support of this body.

That’s pretty warm praise. And McCain has praised Alito on other occasions. After Fund’s article came out, McCain held a blogger conference call denying Fund’s assertion. (No, I wasn’t invited to participate.) He flatly denied it to Byron York as well.

Tom Maguire rounds up more McCain praise for Alito and says: “I am going with Byron York on this one.”

Well, I’d like to hear what Fund has to say about all this. But he should really provide something solid to support his assertion — because McCain’s record of praise for Alito is pretty solid.

UPDATE: So far, Fund’s only support appears to be a claim that he has multiple (unnamed) sources. I’d like to hear more. I hope we do.

UPDATE x2: I see Professor Bainbridge has quoted the same speech I quoted. He also says:

I don’t really want key social policy disputes being decided by a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court except where the Constitution admits of no other option.

That’s nice. Then how about voting for a Republican in 2008, rather than saying you’re going to sit the election out?

UPDATE x3: Bryan at Hot Air has audio of Fund on Mark Levin’s radio show, in which Fund stands by his story. Bryan says we need to hear more details, and I agree.