Dogs, not barking

Item 1: While Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea is receiving plenty of brickbats from neocons, the attacks are on policy (although not necessarily fact-based) grounds. Where's the shame? Don't Republicans remember that he's an embarrassment to the nation? Of course, Clinton was treated as a normally respected ex-president by George W. Bush, but I wasn't certain that it would take once a Democrat sent him on a mission. Guess it did -- I went through three screens worth of posts to the Corner, and not so much as a reference to a blue dress.

Item 2: Do you realize a Supreme Court Justice is about to be confirmed? Hard to see how this one could have gone much better for the White House; they get their Justice, Democratic Senators get an easy vote, and GOP Senators wind up with a hard vote. At any rate, this one has become a non-story. With three (Gregg, Murkowski, Voinovich) unannounced so far, seven Republicans are supporting Sotomayor: Alexander, Bond, Graham, Lugar, Martinez, and of course Collins and Snowe. Question: what, if anything, does this hint about the possibility of getting additional Republican votes on health care?

Item 3: Gosh, we're over six months in, and those sneaky Democrats haven't tipped their hand on their top agenda item, the Fairness Doctrine. What gives? Where's Josh Marshall? Shouldn't he have a running item on this one?