Bumiller Bites It

Elisabeth Bumiller spent about 800 words in today's New York Times analyzing the White House's "strange choice" of former RNC chair Ed Gillespie to "manage the expected fight in the Senate over who will replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor." She talks to fomer colleagues and ideological combatants, and apparently thinks Gillespie's role in the confirmation process is central enough to merit the traditional gloss over his bio--"the son of an Irish immigrant who owned a small grocery store and then a bar in Browns Mills, N.J., [he] got his start on Capitol Hill parking cars in a Senate lot."

Of course, she includes the requisite "to-be-sures": Gillespie wouldn't talk, and "Republicans said that Mr. Gillespie was unwilling to discuss his role because his responsibilities have not yet been finalized."

They were finalized today: Hack actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson will lead the Senate fight, according to the Associated Press. Gillespie is "expected to help with strategy, lobbying and news media relations." Way too overgrease your source, Elisabeth. I'm sure Gillespie is thrilled with a piece that makes him seem more powerful than his new boss. And I'm sure we'll find out in tomorrow's New York Times how Thompson got his start, where his parents are from, and if he ever parked cars for a living.