Outgoing White House adviser Dan Bartlett marvels to Texas Monthly about the dittoheads of the right wing blogosphere:

I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It’s a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we’ve cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.

(Via TPM)

I’m not quite sure how Hillary let this become such a problem for herself.

I never found her position on drivers’ licenses for illegals all that inconsistent: Given the failure of the federal government to control the borders, you can’t fault governors for taking matters into their own hands and trying to come up with reality-based programs to deal with illegal immigrants who are already here. Hillary wouldn’t endorse licenses nationally, she’d pursue an immigration policy that let illegal drivers come out of the shadows, and gain legitimate documentation.

There’s some nuance to the position, but it’s not rocket science.

But instead of sticking up for states rights, or even just letting it lie, Clinton has now come out firmly in opposition to undocumented workers obtaining drivers’ licenses. Just in time for the next debate.

So it’s little surprise that her opponents were waiting to pounce. What’s a bit surprising is that the first blow comes not from Edwards but Obama:

“When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it’s easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them.”

Al Kamen reports that FEMA is learning lessons from the Daily Show: Staging a mock press conference, and airing it as though it were real.

“Are you happy with FEMA’s response so far?” a reporter asked. Another asked about “lessons learned from Katrina.”"I’m very happy with FEMA’s response so far,” Johnson said, hailing “a very smoothly, very efficiently performing team.”

…Very smooth, very professional. But something didn’t seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA’s greatness.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We’re told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA’s deputy director of external affairs, and by “Mike” Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John “Pat” Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin.

Somebody needs to be fired for this.

UPDATE: FEMA’s PR director has been… promoted!

UPDATE II: Faker fired!