• Under pressure, White House declassifies portions of the National Intelligence Estimate. [NYT, WP, LAT, USAT, W$J]

• What does it say? What does it mean? The big papers are handy with analysis. [NYT, WP, LAT]
• New campaign ads debuted yesterday, fueling “the most toxic midterm campaign environment in memory.” [NYT]
• Government rat and former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow sentenced to only 6 years. [WP]
• Senate Democrats propose bill to reimburse states for cost of using paper ballots in mid-term election. [NYT]
• Local woman who was the “first female graduate of West Point to die in Iraq” given a soldiers funeral yesterday. [WP]
• Jon Stewart serves President Musharraf a twinkie, hilarity ensues. [WP]

• Oprah’s not running, gives Larry King her “O-face” tonight, wants Obama in ‘08. [The Swamp]

• Pervez “Perv” Musharraf to announce on The Daily Show tonight that’d he’d gladly give up his nuclear arsenal to get in “the sheets with Angelina Jolie.” [The Corsair]
• White House plans to declassify National Intelligence Estimate, but just that part that says, “we’re safer, bitches.” [Shakespeare's Sister]
• George Allen’s two favorite words on display together at the Zoo. [Andrew Sullivan]
• Vote for Montana Senate candidate Jon Tester because he’s a hunka hot man, also because he’s not Conrad Burns. [Boozhy]
• Trendsetter Hugo Chavez inspires Jerry Falwell to return to his roots making sure we all know who the devil really is. [Think Progress]
• The counter-terrorism plan Bill Clinton claims he left in place? It had to be scrapped because the ninja’s inability to get security-clearances after 9/11. [IMAO]
• Bloggers invited to the Coburn-Obama signing! Luckily, not us.[TPMMuckraker]

Yesterday, while the never-ending Hayden confirmation hearings ground our will to live into dust, Ken Silverstein posted a troubling hilarious story on the CIA in Iraq. Did you know that there hasn’t been a National Intelligence Estimate written on Iraq since November of 2004? Why doesn’t the CIA ever report the good news from Iraq, huh? Schools are being painted, guys! Former agency officials, as always, give great quote: MORE »

Well, we’re screwed. MORE »

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 »