Michelle's already flagged Ben Smith's Politico piece on the Andrew Young-John Edwards soap opera, but I just wanted to add my two cents--or, at the very least, get a blog post out of my one Andrew Young story.

From Politico's report on tea parties and right-wing activism, including Dick Armey's FreedomWorks:

From the White House, yesterday afternoon:

Readers of National Review's group blog, The Corner, are always thankful for the contributions of former White House press secretary Dana Perino. Perino, if you remember, was the woman who frequntly got confused when asked about things like the Cuban Missile Crisis ("It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure").

Just out from the White House:

In May 2001, one day after the news broke that Senator Jim Jeffords was leaving the Republican Party, rumors began to spread that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was contemplating a move in the opposite direction. The rumors made a certain amount of sense. Nelson was a conservative Democrat and personal friend of President Bush. And Republicans were desperate to reclaim the majority they had just lost. For Nelson, the circumstances were perfect ... to prank-call his press secretary.

Before last week, few of us had ever heard of Rick Santelli--despite Santelli's best efforts--and fewer still had any particular affection for him. Santelli is a CNBC TV personality whose most distinctive assets are a near- continuous state of agitation and a Billy Mays-like ability to project his voice, drowning out other shouting heads with ease. His persona is meant to make you pay attention to him, not to love him. But, in one short outburst last week, Santelli made himself the latest darling of the right.

Yesterday, we asked President Bush's former press secretary, Scott McClellan, if he had any hard-won suggestions for Robert Gibbs.

My view is that the press-briefing model that is used now is kind of outdated. It ought to be more along the lines of the Pentagon briefing model, where you’re bringing in on a regular basis--maybe even two to three times a week--key officials from the White House or Cabinet secretaries to participate in these briefings and help educate the press and the public.

A new book and news accounts from San Clemente depict Richard Nixon as he appeared to one of his White House writers before Watergate destroyed his presidency and as he is in exile and nearly total seclusion six months after his resignation. The book is William Safire's Before the Fall (Doubleday; $12.50).