INKY RICKY. So Philadelphia magazine reports that the Inquirer is in column-writing discussions with Rick Santorum. This, the mag says, is the brainchild of Inky publisher Brian Tierney, about whom the mag article contains this amusing paragraph:

SPRINGING FORWARD, OR MAYBE BACKWARD. Interesting that George Bush and Dick Cheney are finally talking tough with Pervez Musharraf, no? Bush has warned the Pakistani prez that Congress, now in unfriendly Democratic hands, might cut offaid to Pakistan if the Musharraf regime doesn�t get more aggressive about hunting down al-Qaeda operatives within its borders (so it takes the presence of the �soft-on-terror� Democrats to make Bush tell his man in the region to get tough on terrorists!). Cheney made a surprise visit (does he make any other kinds?) to Islamabad today to drive the point home.