The quail shooting agenda

It's interesting to see how some stories -- NSA wiretapping, anybody? -- almost disappeared from view this week, with Cheney's quail hunting misadventure. Looks like a classic example of how unpredictable events can influence the media agenda and make some decisions fairly easy. For example, on Thursday, the Senate intelligence committee decided to cancel hearings into warrantless wiretapping authorized by President Bush. At the same time, the administration declared that it was open to talk about legislation regulating the wiretapping program. While nobody watched, a compromise emerged.