January 23, 2003: So George Bush appointed a guy who said that AIDS was "a gay plague" to his AIDS advisory board. Supposedly, he's now withdrawing, though he earlier accepted the appointment. Here's the latest news: "White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), while neither confirming nor denying the withdrawal, issued a stern rebuke of Thacker's statements. 'The views that he holds are far, far removed from what the president believes,' Fleischer said. 'The president has a total opposite view. ... The president's view is that people with AIDS need to be treated with care, compassion.'" I'm not there, so I can't ask Ari the one question I'd like to have an answer to, which is this: If the president really has that view, why did he appoint Thacker in the first place? I wonder why none of the reporters there thought to ask that one?

January 22, 2003: Can it really havee been more than a week since I wrote? I'm getting really lazy, I guess. I'm inspired this morning by the Drudge Report, in which Drudge is attacking John Edwards for chewing gum. Yes, it's come to this. First it was Kerry's hair, and now it's chewing gum. I can't believe it. Is there no depths to which Drudge will not sink? Apparently not.