Hotline After Dark: The Royal Treatment

Pres. Bush's gaffe in introducing the Queen got a lot of replay on TV last night. There was also lots of royal trivia:

FNC's Goler: "The queen's visits have all come during Republican administrations, Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bush's 41 and 43" ("Special Report," 5/7).

CNN's Quest: "When the queen stops eating, the meal is over. ... She's very talented eating at a slow speed so everyone can join in" ("AC 360," 5/7).

More Quest: "It was one of those, to use a quaint English expression, storm in a teacup. And Mickey Rooney greeted the queen and kissed hands. Now, the general protocol is that you don't touch the queen. And Mr. Rooney ... gave her a smackaroo on the back of her hand. And everybody is saying that this is a breach of protocol, it's a no-no, it's a disgrace. I can tell you ... the queen will not have been offended. She's wearing gloves anyway, so she didn't have Rooney's spittle all over her hand" ("Situation Room," 5/7).

AN EVEN BIGGER STORM IN A TEACUP

Also getting a lot of coverage was the Greensboro, KS, tornado:

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) made appearances on all the evening newscasts where she discussed the difficulty of recovery efforts since most of the KS Nat'l Guard equipment was in Iraq:

Sebelius: "What we're really missing is equipment and that is putting a strain on recoveries like this one" ("Nightly News," NBC, 5/7).

Sebelius was also in the "Situation Room":

Sebelius: "What really is hampering reactions like this and our opportunity to clean up quickly is the equipment shortage. It's something that governors across this country have talked about to the president, to the Department of Defense, really for well over two years and it's happening every place in the country. When a Guard unit is deployed, the equipment goes with them. It doesn't come back, and it isn't replaced" (CNN, 5/7).

ABC's Stark: "Governors have pleaded with the Pentagon and the administration to replenish the Guard but have been told it could take six years. For now Kansas will rent borrow and grab any truck it can" ("World News," 5/7).

FNC's McKinley: "Sam Brownback, the senator from Kansas, is fighting back. He released official numbers. He says, after all, 88 percent of National Guard troops are still here in Kansas" ("Hannity & Colmes," 5/7).

A DEM WOULDN'T BE QUESTIONED LIKE THIS!

And Mitt Romney was on "Hannity & Colmes":

On addressing Regent Univ.: "What I'm pleased about is that Pat Robertson invited me to speak at the university, not because he accepts the teachings of my church but because he believes that the values that I have are values that he shares and that his student body can learn from."

On having his abortion stance questioned: "What I found interesting is, had I been pro-life and then changed to pro-choice, no one would ask the question." More: "If you go in the other direction, as I have and as Ronald Reagan did and Henry Hyde and George Herbert Walker Bush, it's like the media can't get enough" (FNC, 5/7). [EMILY GOODIN]