While it's unclear how serious the talk is inside the administration about the future of Rice or Hadley with the NSC, a few top aides are already suggesting replacements for Rice. They include former Bush administration National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, NASA chief and former Navy Secretary Sean O'Keefe, and Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq.

7/22/03
Judge Bork, baptized at 76
It may be a little late to start for most, but Robert Bork, the former Supreme Court nominee who has written books decrying the decline of Western culture, has just been baptized. Rev. C. John McCloskey, who represents the conservative and activist Opus Dei arm of the Roman Catholic Church and oversaw the baptism, said, "I can confirm that he was received in the Catholic Church."

Bork, a scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, was raised a Protestant and had called himself a "generic Protestant." He was known more for his conservative legal views, which some Democrats used to shoot down his court nomination during the Reagan administration.

In a brief interview, he said that years of "conversations and reading" led him to baptism at McCloskey's small Catholic Information Center chapel on K Street near the White House. "There's more to talk about than you can put in a brief story." He called himself a regular Catholic who attends Sunday mass, not an Opus Dei member.

He said talks with and recommendations from the priest, as well as attending church with his wife, Mary Ellen Bork, a former nun, helped pave the way to the ceremony.

Bork's sponsors were Kate O'Beirne, a conservative media star, and John O'Sullivan, head of UPI.

Lots of other prominent Catholics were there, such as columnist and speechwriter Peggy Noonan, herself a convert.

McCloskey has made several other high-level conversions of conservatives, bringing into the Catholic Church conservative columnist Robert Novak and Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas.

The best part of getting baptized at 76, said Bork: "If you get baptized at my age, all of your sins are forgiven. And that's very helpful."

According to Archdiocese of Washington Communications Director Susan Gibbs, Msgr. William Awalt, the longtime pastor of the Borks, baptized the judge, confirmed him and gave him First Communion. Father McCloskey celebrated the Mass, along with Msgr. Peter Vaghi, pastor of St. Patrick's.

– With David LaGesse

http://www.cicdc.org/
The Catholic Information Center

7/16/03
Talking heads for hire
The FBI has joined the Pentagon in the hunt for a spokesperson. Whispers learns that the FBI has interviewed at least three current or former administration spokesmen for the post and is even asking reporters for ideas. At the Pentagon, the search for a replacement for retiring flak Torie Clarke appears focused on either a former defense reporter or one of several close aides to Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. We learn that some have rejected the job because Rummy is a difficult and abrasive boss.

7/10/03
Nader will be in by January
Ralph Nader fans, all 2.8 million of you, rejoice. Yes, he’s probably going to run for president again. Over cereal Thursday morning, he said the decision will come “by the end of the year.” But he’s already planning and scheming for a run, either as an independent or Green Party candidate. Does he think he has a chance? Nader puts it this way: “If I was able to get on all the state ballots … and if I was able to get in all of the debates, there’d be a good chance for a three-way race. And if the debates were not just sterile parallel interviews, if they were really varied debates worthy of the name, there’s a chance of a three-way race.” Why run? He thinks President Bush and most Democrats are ignoring the very kind of corporate corruption he hates.

Check out Nader’s platform here:
http://www.crashingtheparty.org/goals.html

7/9/03
Father Dean's winning ways
Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean is proving that once you've got the Big Mo, even disasters don't drag you down. Consider his son's recent arrest for allegedly trying to boost some booze from a Vermont country club. It had other candidates giggling and suggesting that Dean couldn't even control his kids. Republicans even thought it would doom his candidacy. But political analysts said Dean's quick return home to deal with the situation gave the candidate a lift. Even Doug Wead, an aide to former President Bush and author of All the President's Children, told us: "By canceling Iowa appearances and rushing home to be with his family, Dean showed integrity and class."

7/3/03
New al Qaeda focus: Sudan, Chad
FBI agents in Houston are on the hunt for al Qaeda figures with ties to Chad and the Sudan, who, the agency says, may be targeting Texas and Los Angeles oil and chemical plants. Agents are asking Muslim and Middle Eastern men in Houston specific questions about phone calls or trips to the countries, sources tell our Chitra Ragavan. Their questions are related to a threat to blow up petrochemical plants in the Houston or Los Angeles area over the Fourth of July holiday. The questions about Sudan and Chad are striking, sources say, because the usual target countries are Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

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