Via Huffington Post:

Vice President Dick Cheney was taken to the cardiac unit of the Vail Valley Medical Center Friday. Contrary to Associated Press reports that he went to see orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Steadman, for a knee injury, Vice President Cheney passed through the orthopedic center directly to the cardiac unit to see Dr. Jack Eck and his team. The Vice President checked into the hospital under the name of Dr. Hoffman.

Arianna is also in Vail and has more details. This AP article just mentions Cheney going to get his old knee injury checked.

Update here.

The White House says Karl Rove was right in bashing liberals over 9/11.

"I think Karl was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out," communications director Dan Bartlett said, contending the comments weren't aimed at all Democrats.

Digby:

I am currently working on a project about Rove and have done a lot of research on how people perceive him as compared to his actual success. I agree with the assessment above. He is highly overrated as a strategist --- indeed Democrats have imputed to him almost magical powers to shape events in the most complicated ways. It's much simpler than that.

He is just someone who has no limits. And he has a client and a party that are willing to do as he advises. That is a powerful thing, but it is not genius. It is useful in elections, but it is a disaster in governance, as we are seeing. Brute force cannot accomplish every task, as any plumber or mechanic can tell you.

Democrats today demanded an apology from Karl Rove for his sleazy comments about liberals and 9/11. The White House refused.

The White House said it would "of course not" heed Democratic demands for an apology from Rove or a presidential condemnation of the adviser's remarks, and it rejected Democratic charges that Rove's words amounted to a Bush administration attempt to exploit the war on terrorism for political gain.

Democratic Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette (D-CO)had this to say about Rove's remarks:

Karl Rove went over the top at a fundraiser yesterday in Manhattan. His comments:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.....I don't know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt when I watched the twin towers crumble to the ground, a side of the Pentagon destroyed, and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble."

It gets worse:

Mr. Rove also said American armed forces overseas were in more jeopardy as a result of remarks last week by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who compared American mistreatment of detainees to the acts of "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others."

"Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year?" Mr. Rove asked. "Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."

AmericaBlog is hopping mad. Atrios has some thoughts as well. This will be the story of the day.

Sean Paul at Agonist is asking for thoughts on the best strategy to defeat the nomination of John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador. [link fixed.] For more, visit StopJohnBolton.

The Chicago Tribune is running a poll on its front page with the question, "Should Dick Durbin have apologized.?" Go on over and vote.

Sen. Dick Durbin gave a full apology for his choice of words late this afternoon. Here's what CNN's Congressional correspondent Ed Henry told Lou Dobbs, who was on air at the time about the apology: (available on Lexis.com)

[from Durbin's speech] I made reference to the Nazis, to the Soviets and other repressive regimes. Mr. President, I've come to understand that was a very poor choice of words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: This comes after heavy pressure from various Republicans on Sunday. Former prisoner of war and Senator John McCain said in fact that Durbin should go further and actually apologize on the Senate floor. Late last night, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and the rest of the Republican leadership sent a joint letter to the Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, demanding that Durbin go down to the Senate floor and apologize.

Update: About-Face! Frist changes his mind and announces he will push for an up-or-down vote after meeting with Bush today.

What are President Bush's options now that the Dems have again blocked John Bolton's nomination for U.N. Ambassador? He can appoint Bolton as a recess appointment. He can provide the Democrats with the documents they seek. Or he can nominate someone else.

But any of those options could leave the president appearing weak as he confronts sagging poll numbers and fights to stave off a lame-duck label just six months into his final term.

Crooks and Liars called Sen. Bill Frist's office today to ask for an apology for his comments about Terri Schiavo's autopsy results. Here's the audio.

by TChris

Regular participants in and observers of trials soon learn that most witnesses, no matter how well intentioned, are poor estimators of times and distances. It's no surprise that Michael Schiavo gave varying estimates during interviews in 1992 and 2003 of the time at which he discovered his wife's collapse.

If he looked at his watch and two days later could recall exactly what it said, I'd be mildly surprised. So to think it highly suspicious that he got the time wrong or rounded it off too roughly two years after the fact, and again 13 years after the fact, is laughable.

Michael Schiavo has been consistent as to the critical point: he called 911 promptly after determining that his wife was unresponsive. As TalkLeft recently noted, Jeb Bush nonetheless wants the state attorney in Pinellas to investigate Jeb's unsupported suspicion that Michael waited half an hour before calling for help.

Jeb's continued pandering to the religious right while attempting to save face by hounding Michael Schiavo is inexcusable. Schiavo has endured enough tragedy without being forced to defend himself against Jeb Bush's scandalous attempt to assassinate his character. An autopsy (and a review of medical records) revealed no evidence to support the slanderous assertions of abuse leveled by Terri's parents, and there is no credible evidence that Michael waited (or had any reason to wait) before calling for help.

Jeb Bush's abuse of the criminal justice system to pursue the religious right's vendetta against Michael Schiavo is appalling. Michael deserves an apology.

A married, multi-millionaire Republican Congressman was sued today.

A woman who accused Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., of trying to choke her during an encounter at his Capitol Hill apartment last fall is suing him for $5.5 million. Cynthia Ore, 29, of Rockville, Md., alleges in the suit filed in Superior Court that during her five-year relationship with Sherwood, he brutally assaulted and struck her on several occasions.

Sherwood, 64, in a statement Thursday from his attorney, "emphatically" denied that he had ever abused Ore. "The lawsuit is plainly intended to extract a lucrative and unjustified settlement through the threat of inflicting personal and political damage on Congressman Sherwood and his family," the statement said. "As Ms. Ore's lawyers have already been advised, these tactics will fail."

It seems that Sherwood has admitted the affair but denies the abuse.