Coffee falls into the stomach … ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop … the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink… ~ Honore de Balzac

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) The New Guru, Same As The Old Guru — “Now that the Democrats have won their Congressional majorities, they now have to govern for the first time in 12 years. They made a lot of campaign promises, especially regarding Iraq, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants to make sure those get honored. To that end, they have turned to a new guru on war — one who led Democrats to a massive defeat via his own defeatism in 1972:”

Blogs for Bush (Mark Noonan) Democrats Win, Desire to Surrender — “The 60 members of Congress McGovern is meeting with are the Congressional Progressive Caucus, so called because Congressional Communist Caucus didn’t poll as well in focus group testing. These 60-odd lefties are the worst of the worst – the real moon-bats; the people who really do think that President Bush caused 9/11 to happen so we could go to war for Big Oil and The Jews.”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) MI5 Head: Islamic Radicalization in England Growing — “The head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, told an audience at Queen Mary College there are currently 30 top-priority terrorism investigations underway and there is an increased Al Qaida threat in England including an 80 percent rise in casework since January. Manningham-Buller also detailed teenagers were being recruited in England to “carry out suicide attacks and will use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons if they get the chance.” ”

Don Surber Mehlman out, Steele in — “Like Mehlman, Steele comes off as an articulate man who can hold his own against anyone. Mehlman will best be remembered for scaring off that loudmouth Dr. Howard Dean, who was so scared that he twice refused to appear on “Meet the Press” with Mehlman. If Tim Russert had any integrity, he would have told Dr. Dean, no joint appearance, then no airtime at all.”

ScrappleFace (Scott Ott) Chafee May Quit GOP, Divorce Britney Spears — “The dual announcements shocked both the political and entertainment worlds as leading experts in both realms had not previously known of either relationship that Sen. Chafee plans to sever.”