Memoir Memories ... and Monica's Mad

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Blame Game
While Vice President Cheney (search) says he felt better after cussing at Vermont's Patrick Leahy (search) on the Senate floor, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz now says he regrets dumping on the news media in front of the House Armed Services Committee.

Wolfowitz blamed negative perceptions about Iraq on fearful reporters who — "sit in Baghdad and publish rumors." In a letter to journalists, Wolfowitz later extended a "heartfelt apology," saying — "I understand well the enormous dangers that you face, and want to restate my admiration for your professionalism, dedication and, yes, courage."

Switching Sides
Democratic Sen. Zell Miller (search), who 12 years ago delivered the keynote address nominating Bill Clinton (search) at the Democratic National Convention, will speak to the GOP Convention this August.

The retiring Georgia lawmaker has become an outspoken critic of his own party, calling Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry a — "out-of-touch, ultraliberal from Taxachusetts," and publishing a cutting book on the state of his party.

Representative John Lewis says that Miller has — "sold his soul," adding that the decision to address the GOP is a — "shame and a disgrace."

Professor Apologizes
An appellate court judge and former dean of Yale law school has apologized for comparing President Bush to fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Judge Guido Calabresi told a conference of lawyers last week that like those dictators, President Bush took office without winning an election, and that — "like Mussolini, he has exercised extraordinary power.

He has...claimed power for himself" — remarks that brought audible gasps from the audience. Calabresi now says he is "truly sorry" for the comparison, and that what he meant as an academic argument about elections was — "too easily taken as partisan."

Memoir Memories ... and Monica's Mad
In his autobiography, former president Bill Clinton writes that a 1992 phone call from Bush administration official Roger Porter influenced him to run for president in 1992. Clinton says Porter told him — "the press has to have somebody and we're going to give them you ... We'll spend whatever we have to spend...to take you out." But Porter, now a professor at Harvard, says the conversation never took place.

Meanwhile, Monica Lewinsky is calling Clinton a — "liar and a creep" after he told "60 Minutes" he'd had an affair with her simply because he could. The former White House intern told Britain's ITV that she was — "really upset" by the interview, and that while she'd expected Clinton to set the record straight about her, he was still — "unable to tell the truth."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report