Wonkette

Everyone in Washington has just hit an historic new low in approval. Americans now have a better opinion of the evil archaeologist from Raiders of the Lost Ark than Bush, and a majority prefer the 1980 Oakland Raiders to the entirety of the 110th Congress. [AP]

* First day of the real Walnuts! campaign means first day of the “long awaited official McCain 2008 blog,” which of course, is over before it started with opening lines like, “As the Straight Talk Express pulled into Prescott Park, the crowd went wild.” [johnmccain dot com slash blog]
* Hillary uses a “black-cent” when she talks to the blacks. [NY Post]
* WHCA president doesn’t give a shit if you had fun at his dinner. [Romensko]
* Michael Bloomberg says something glorious. [Political Wire]
* Screw you Harry Reid — Dick Cheney’s approval rating is actually 29%. So there. [The Volokh Conspiracy]
* Lou Dobbs has found the Illuminati behind the immigration crisis: local newspapers. [Passport]

* Justice Department tries to whack a wise guy to save Rudy and Hillary’s reputations. [HuffPo]
* Rich white assholes suspect John McCain might be “tainted, perhaps beyond repair.” [Club for Growth (PDF)]
* Second Iranian agent forsakes his homeland for burgers, baseball and big fake titties. [Newsmax]
* Congressman Mike Doyle thinks Pitchfork Media is the hipster equivalent of Fox News. [Tech Dirt]
* Bush edging ever closer to the all-time record for futility. [Political Arithmetik]
* So, you say you never ever want to get laid? [Political Insider]
* Fred Thompson’s new running mate is the other guy from Law & Order. Betcha didn’t see that coming. [Hotline on Call]
* Hurry! Only one day left to get your application in to spend the summer flip-flopping around the Hill and blowing Howard Dean. [Democrats.org]
* Dennis Miller is hosting Rudy’s fundraiser tonight, so, like with dinner, laugh before you go. [Suitably Flip]

* Cat fight causes John Edwards to fire his campaign bloggers. Malkin is front and center, obv. [Salon]
* List of administration’s “Top 25 criminals and scoundrels” is missing some obvious ones, gets points for trying. [CREW]
* Presidential approval rating graphs tell 10,000 words. [Political Arithmetik]
* Chris Matthews can’t control his potty mouth when it comes to phony farmers like George Bush, and, uh, Don Imus. [C&L]
* State Department employees find selves too good for Iraq. [TPM Muckraker]
* The No. 1 Google search result for “space diapers.” [Greinke.com]
* President’s budget will rip out Mr. Snuffleupagus’ still-beating heart and show it to him before canceling his show. [Think Progress]

* New Fox show “Red Eye” gives the impression it came out of a brown eye. [Think Progress]
* “Getting kicked in the balls” now has a higher approval rating that you-know-who. [Radar]
* In case you hadn’t heard already, Al Gore’s announcing his candidacy at the Oscars, so watch if you care. [Intoxination]
* Somebody’s got to take the “bucket of warm piss.” [Political Insider]
* Republicans under FBI investigation losing their seats to Democrats? It’s not just hazy memories of 2006— the fun begins again in 2008! [Election Central]
* Happy fourth birfday to the bag of horseshit Colin Powell gave to the UN about Iraqi WMD. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

• Strategists warn that his stance on treatment of terror suspects might hurt McCain in 2008, the Maverick is unfazed. [WP, LAT]

• False intelligence from Canada led to the abduction and torture of a Muslim-Canadian citizen by the CIA. [WP, NYT]
• Falling gas prices and terror-talk have Bush’s approval rating at 44%, which is a 52-week high. [USAT]
• Al Gore and John Kerry give the speeches about the environment, religion. What year is this? [WP, WP]
• Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and his AA-sponsor Jim Ramstad (R-MN) say Congressional sobriety, like corruption, is bi-partisan. [NYT]
• Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. targeting Mel Gibson’s market share with launch of new Christian film studio “FoxFaith.” [LAT]

• Two of the White House’s most controversial anti-terror programs are on the hill and multiple incarnations in multiple committees are making for confusing parallel legislation. [NYT, WP, LAT]

• Bush’s approval rating goes up one percentage point for every thousand mentions of phrase, “Iraq and terrorism.” [WSJ]
• House unwilling to give up anonymous earmarks for even a couple of weeks. [NYT]
• International Atomic Energy Agency claims a recent House Intelligence committee report on Iran is “erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated.” [NYT]
• Nationwide shortage of poll workers; ones we have too old, stupid. [USAT]
• House Republicans want 700 miles of fence built along the border with Mexico. [NYT]
• Who’s the gunslinger now? Novak blasts Armitage. [WP]

The Washington Post periodically tracks the President’s approval ratings, and has been helpful enough to chart how these ratings have moved up and down over time, with captioned signposts along the way that show how big news events can affect popular opinion. MORE »

The President’s approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34%. This puts him somewhere between chiropractors and bankers in terms of public respect. On the bright side, though, he’s still beating out HMO managers and insurance salesmen — a good politician always makes sure to poll more favorably than his donors, after all. MORE »