The Big Picture on a Red-Letter Day

For the big picture today, we turn to former White House speechwriter Peggy Noonan, whose WSJ opinion column (today's No. 33 top link) about America's current state of afffairs seem to put just about everything -- from Supreme Court nominess to White House staff indictment predictions (updated here with Scooter Libby's indictment) to stem cells to intelligent design theories -- in context. And on a day like today, perhaps that's what the country needs the most: the view from a distance. "Peggy Noonan bought a clue" is one blogger's review, while Justice For All thinks her views are "fundamentally wrong."

Now that Harriet's gone...
Reaction to Harriet Miers' Thursday withdrawal from the Supreme Court pool was voluminous and varied. By volume: 14 of today's top 20 most-shared links , 12 of the top 20 news stories and at least seven of the top 20 blog posts mentioned the move. Miers is today's most-discussed BlogPulse personality, and the day's two most-discussed phrases are in context of the Miers move. Commentary ranges from Outside the Beltway's relief to Hugh Hewitt's concern to PoliPundit's observation that things will be far different for future nominees, now that conservatives clearly have made political ideology a litmus test for any judge.

Legal coincidence?
Todays list of the most-discussed personalities in the blogosphere contains an awkwad combination of folks, including most of the major players in the CIA/Fitzgerald investigation, (Rove, Fitzgerald, Libby, Plame, Cheney, etc.). Next door atop the Bursty People list is Tom Noe, an Ohio Republican fund-raiser and rare coin dealer at the center of a scandal over the state's workers' compensation fund's investments in...yes, rare coins and other underpeforming funds. He's just been...yes, indicted for money laundering and donating above-limit funds to President Bush's campaign.

Jokes for news junkies
Today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog zeroes in on another top link today: a look at how Fox News might have covered major historical events.