The American Spectator

p> PLAY POSSUM PELOSI br> With the August Congressional recess right around the corner, Democrat House and Senate leaders are pressing their caucuses hard not to “make waves” in the coming days. /p>

“Our leadership doesn’t want us to add grease to any fires,” says a moderate Democrat House member. “They’re more than willing to let Conyers and the other committees doing investigations throwing red meat to our base, but they don’t want anything else to make news. They’re more afraid of being a ‘do something’ Congress than a ‘do nothing’ Congress.”

Quietly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to organize a series of international trips during August to undercut the Bush Administration’s foreign policy, but has been trying to clear the calendar of any major legislative action, hoping that the fall session, with major moves on Iraq in play, will bring a wealth of pro-Democrat momentum.

p> PHONE SEX br> Word is that lawyers from NBC have been working behind the scenes with the so-called “Washington Madam,” whose phone records recently ensnared Louisiana Sen. David Vitter . It’s not clear why, given that ABC News had been the prime news source for the documents, and the madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey , recently posted a number of documents on the Internet after the judge’s injunction was lifted. /p>

“Office scuttlebutt is that it’s not so much the documents, but some phone numbers that are in the documents that have their attention,” says an NBC News employee in New York. “That’s all we’re hearing.”