"Honey I forgot to duck."

The words of President Ronald Reagan on this date in 1981, after he was shot by John W Hinckley III. He made the remark to his wife.

This was actually a pretty big day in history as Texas became the last confederate state readmitted to the union in 1870. How many flags did that make?
- The first U.S. golf course opened today.
- Manhattan and Queens were linked by the Queensboro bridge. Original name huh?

But back to Reagan for a minute, specifically Reaganomics, which I believe called for reduced government spending, reduced taxes, reduced regulation and reduced money supply to control inflation - you know, good, sound, Republican economic policy. Now, we might not quite call this government spending, but one might wonder how the late president (he died in 2004 at 93) would feel about the current state of his party - specifically the leadership of its national committee, the RNC.

This is one of those "a picture (or headline) is worth 1,000 words" moments:

Don't adjust your screen. The headline says, "Party of Yes!" Yes, that is RNC Chairman Michael Steele next to photos of women at the Voyeur West Hollywood in Los Angeles, where bondage is the activity of choice. And people thought Steele only talked a good game...

Yesterday in the Daily Caller, a conservative website started by Tucker Carlson (formerly of Crossfire), there was a story about the spending habits of the RNC under Steele. The main point of it was how the committee is bleeding money (not really news here in Washington) through private jet rentals and such. But tucked into the fifth paragraph is where the lines that may end the chairman's run can be found.

Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.

Without actually making a statement, Steele's only real message was that sometimes luxurious accommodations are necessary to woo big donors. You know, like porn stars. I went back and read the Republican commandments yesterday, just to see if this violated any of them. Looks like it may not. Which is probably why no one thought twice about Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's statement that, "women in Congress don't cheat because they don't have time." So, there's no moral issue there, just a scheduling one.
Hey, people have vices. They just don't generally spend the money of their political contributors to exercise them.

The Fix led off with this today, unpacking what happened and what it means. The first thing to be pointed out, and in good journalistic ethics I probably should've done it earlier, is that Steele wasn't actually in attendance for the night club shenanigans, and claims to have no knowledge. However, as The Fix points out, that doesn't really matter - it is his organization. Remember, Steele is already much maligned around here, more in his own party than to Democrats.

The Fix also says that it is highly unlikely that Steele will be voted out of the RNC Chairmanship (it takes two-thirds) and there is no way that Michael Steele is resigning, so again, probably should've said that earlier.

This is where this really matters: the ballot box in November.

The more ammunition Republicans -- including but not limited to Steele/RNC -- give to Democrats to make this a choice between the two parties, the less likely it is Republicans will be able to fully capitalize on a terrific national environment for them.

In other words, this could be an ugly situation that drags on for a long time. Unless something else happens of course.

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Inevitably I am going to get asked why I didn't first mention the horrific events in Moscow yesterday, where two suicide bombers devastated the subway system, in a return to the most recent types of large-scale terrorism around the world. There is a theory that the location of the attacks, near the country's top security agency, makes it possible that this was aimed at Russian intelligence.

The fact is that I just don't know that much about it. As of the this morning the death toll is, "at least 38." It happened near the Kremlin.

One I do know is that this is probably the scariest type of terrorist attack (if any is more scary than another - sorry, the word choice here is tough). Subway systems are basically impossible to protect. In one story I read yesterday, an expert was quoted, basically say that in order to protect a subway system the way we would need to, the system would become useless. It would be too slow and the security measures too much of a hindrance. As a result, these subways are "sitting ducks."

Obviously I'll continue to read as much as I can about all of this and write accordingly.

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- Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed new K-12 legislation into law yesterday. In a rare occurrence, the bill had Republican support. Originally these bills were supposed to help the state in President Obama's Race to the Top program, but Washington wasn't even a finalist. Gregoire says these bills will enable the state to compete for more federal funding in the second round. Only Delaware and Tennessee received any funding in the first round.

Teacher tenure was a part of the bills, which is surely to spark some debate, as was the method of evaluation for principals and teachers.


All for now.