Just a couple of quick comments about political events and major new stories.

I find it interesting, if not amusing, that Michael Chertoff’ “gut feeling” of a terrorist attack this summer comes just before the report on benchmarks in Iraq. In fact, I was listening to Chertoff being interviewed this morning on the Today Show and not a half hour later (Pacific Time) NBC broke in with the President’s news conference on the report. We’ve gone through this before when poll numbers are bad or there is some story the Administration wants to distract the media from covering. “It’s Al Queda!”

I expect the White House and their lackeys to spin the report one way, while reality appears a bit different. I also don’t believe that much of anything is going to change until September when a few more Republicans might decide to jump ship. Even then I think that Rove and his ops still have enough leverage with the RNC to keep some of the more borderline Congress folks in check.

Looks to be another good day to keep tabs on TPM and the other political sites.