The blogosphere is focused on the condition of Ariel Sharon and on what it means for the future of Israel and the Middle East.  While Austin Bay wonders whether we’ve seen the death of Israel’s “New Center,” Arianna Huffington gives a glowing profile of Sharon’s acting replacement, Ehud Olmert.  Huffington recounts her June meeting with Olmert and concludes he is “fearless, pragmatic, willing to risk his and his party's political future to do the right thing for his country.”  Jim Geraghty examines the fallout at TKS.

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran have also weighed in on Sharon, and not surprisingly their comments have created quite a stir.  Jeff Jarvis says both men give God a bad name and asks, “When is media going to learn that just because somebody calls himself religious, or even a religious leader, that doesn’t mean he speaks for or leads all the other people who call themselves religious?”

The Alito nomination has made its way back into the news, with reports that Senate Democrats plan on delaying the Judiciary Committee’s vote for at least a week.  Ed Morissey expects the “circus” to intensify over the weekend, but in the meantime he takes on Senators Schumer and Kennedy for their latest remarks on the nomination.

Cathy Young points to a Knight Ridder report on Katrina’s death toll.  “Everything you knew about Katrina was wrong.”

And over in California Arnold can’t catch a break from either side.  The right is fed up with him (Carol Platt Liebau, Neal Boortz, Hugh Hewitt all have posts) and at DailyKos he gets called a hypocrite.

There's more on the RealClearPolitics Blog Coverage page.