In Fred Thompson’s new campaign spot, he takes the time to put down his newspaper and talk Amerkan like ’bout teh illegals. As he folkily-dolkily opines, you may wonder whether Fred Thompson ever has met a minority in his life — or at least in that coffee shop thing. Anyway, sorry to interrupt, Fred! Feel free to go back to your newspaper.

Fred Thompson: No Amnesty [YouTube]

The White House and Congress may sort of be at each others’ throats these days, but there’s one thing that unites the Democrats, Republicans and Cheneys: utter fealty to their global corporate masters. Sadly, conservatives and union members and the downsized and downtrodden don’t understand this, so all these “voters” scream and yell and protest and say “shamnesty” or whatever. MORE »

* Tony Blair is bigger than a poodle, he’s really much closer to like a Jack Russel Terrier or a Beagle or something. [The Sun]
* And he just got pretty much the shittiest reassignment ever. [LGF]
* Bush has to change his policy on Iraq or else a long time from now there may be enough votes in the Senate to cut off war funding. By then, all of America will speak Spanish and most American cities will be like Houston in the film Rollerball. [Passport]
* It’s sort of sweet that Rudy Guiliani so loves to felate, but he really should take a second to come up for air. [Pandagon]
* Tancredo finds his voice through vegetables. [CNN]
* The sword is in fact mightier than the pen, it turns out. [Iraq Slogger]
* What, so now all of a sudden you believe in science? Nice try, nutcase. [Hot Air]
* Pointing out Mexican inferiority and latent homosexuality is far more constructive a solution to the immigration situation than any fence ever could be. [IMAO]
* Republicans get all misty thinking of the good ol’ days under Bill “Honest Abe ” Frist. [Redstate]
* There are so many successful New York politicians in the race for president, it’s high time to get a couple of failed ones into the mix. [Political Insider]
* The surge is working, depending on what you mean by “surge” and “working.” [WorldWideStandard]

Sorry for the hiatus, folks. But between the dodgy servers and pictures of Katherine Harris’s breasts did you even notice? If I had to sum up yesterday’s chatfest with one word, it would be this: amneleaksty. Immigration and Fitzgerald investigation dominated — which makes sense when you realize that Fitzgerald’s grandparents were probably immigrants.

Hot topics:
• Immigration bill: “bureaucracy of rubber stamps” or “lack[ing] compassion”?
• Leak investigation: Specter says the President needs to come clean, Kerry says “This was not a declassification to educate America, this was a declassification to mislead America.”
• Nuking Iran. Scary!

Quotes to live by:
• Stephanopoulos wonders “how do you solve this Rubik’s cube” of the budget?
• Dionne asks “What did the president forget and when did he forget it?”
• George Will gets legalistic: The President “was trying to discredit, punish, or seek revenge against a critic… where in the federal statues does it say that is forbidden?”
• And in case you’re wondering why he lost: Russert introduces Kerry thusly as the man who won “48.3 percent” of the popular vote.

Kerry: “I thought it was 49.2″
Tim: “48.3 — But who’s counting?”

After the jump: The most optimistic man in America, the calm and cool Joe Wilson (really), and a testy Schieffer.

MORE »

* Administration projects the cost of rebuilding New Orleans levees will be $10 billion, triple the previous estimate. Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D): “This means that, just two months before hurricane season, the Corps of Engineers informs us they cannot ensure even the minimum safety of southeastern Louisiana. This is totally unacceptable.” [WP]
* Bush, in Cancun with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, aims to rebuild trust and find “move forward” on immigration. Bush: “We don’t want people sneaking into our country who are going to do jobs Americans don’t want. We want them coming in an orderly way.” [WP, NYT, USAT, AP]
* Pentagon will test the “largest single explosive we could imagine” –a bunker-busting 700-ton explosive– at the Nevada Test Site. [WP]
* Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner says restructuring of intelligence agencies is not an improvement. [WP]
* Immigration issue divides Democrats and organized labor. [WP]
* Senate begins arduous task of debating immigration legislation. [W$J, NYT]

MORE »