Wonkette

Republican campaigns have relied on Al Qaeda terrorism for five long and miserable years, so it’s no real surprise to learn top White House contributors are also top Al Qaeda contributors. MORE »

ABC News investigative star Brian Ross has finally gone too far with his “I’m talking on this pretend cell phone” picture: Now the Feds are trying to record all the calls made on the fake mobile. MORE »

• Venezuelan owned CITGO gas stations facing boycott by people whose giant vehicles need the most refilling. [GOP and the City]

• George Allen’s “ethnic rally” from the point of view of the “ethnics” in attendance. [Shaking Her Assets]
• Flight Attendants resort to lying to get you off your damn phone. [Freakonomics]
• Why are oil prices dropping? Because of the growing stability in Iraq and the decreasing possibility of an invasion of Iran, duh. [Blogs For Bush]
• Ever relevant Consumer Product Safety Commission wants you to take product safety TO THE EXTREME! [Consumerist]
• Tragically misunderstood Mahmoud Ahmadinejad respects Jews like George Allen, has several Jewish friendsters. [Captain's Quarters]
• Richard “Leakmeister” Armitage threatened to bomb Pakistan “back to the stone age.” Unless he didn’t; buy President Musharraf’s book on Monday to know for sure! [ChicagoTrib]
• Lynn Westmoreland thinks torture is fucking hilarious. [Echidne of the Snakes]

• When Bill Clinton called Disney CEO Robert Iger to tell him to fix that “Path to 9/11″ bullshit, Iger said, “how high?” [The Ostroy Report]

• All new ABC pseudo-historical docudramas will air the disclaimer, “The film you are about to see has been modified to fit your perceived cultural biases.” [Swedes for Obama]
• Fred Phelps wants you to know that God hates John Stewart and his “hooligan sidekick” Stephen Colbert just as much as he hates fags. [Comedy Central]
• Blackberry addiction now a lawsuit worthy phenomenon. [The Volokh Conspiracy]
• Jack Abramoff called Rove, “a fat fuck,” did loads of other shady stuff. [TPMmuckraker]
• Michelle Malkin wants you to say “No!” to anarchist beer producers, crushes can with her foot as proof. [Hot Air]
• Ann Coulter’s “evil quotes” not quite tied directly to book sales, Gawker provides a chart in the hopes she say something that goes off it. [Gawker]
• Pakistani security services instantly locate a bikini-contest contestant. Osama still lost. [Hit & Run]

Vows to sit this one out too. MORE »

* Top White House staffers are “physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks,” say “insiders.” [WP]
* Bush has come to embrace globalization and interconnectedness. Close aide: “We’re seeing it in everything. Iraq. The ferocity of an irrational argument over the ports. Guest workers. China and India.” [NYT]
* Sen. Feingold (D-Wis.) calls for censure of Bush: “The president has broken the law, and, in some way, he must be held accountable.” [NYT, LAT]
* Most Republican presidential contenders agree that federal spending should be reduced and an optimistic tone should be presented. [NYT, USAT, LAT]
* Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf insisted that Bush stay the night, and he obeyed despite security concerns. [NYT]
* Texas pharmacists complain to Karl Rove about the shortcomings of the new Medicare plan. [NYT]

After striking the President on the shoulder, the ball waited nearly 24 hours before authorizing a friend to alert the local media of the incident. The ball’s spokesperson suggests that Bush may be to blame. MORE »

* Duke Cunningham gets the longest sentence ever given to a congressman: 8 years and 4 months. MORE »

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Apparently, the Pakistani education system has hit upon a stunning new refinement of Hooked-on-Phonics. The BBC reports that an English textbook intended for 16-year-old high school students features a poem arranged so that the first letter of each line vertically spells out “President George W. Bush.” After a public outcry, the poem has been deleted. But some of its more stirring couplets include: MORE »

• White House officials anticipate indictments from the leak investigation; scandals “have converged to disrupt President Bush’s agenda, distract aides and allies, and exacerbate political problems for an already weakened administration.” Senior administration official: “Everyone is going about the work at hand while bracing for the worst case.” [WP, NYT]
• McClellan dismisses suggestion that Harriet Miers withdraw; press secretary tells reporters to focus on “her record and her qualifications.” [NYT, WT]
• Bush told Blair in January 2003 that he “wanted to go beyond Iraq” to contain WMDs; he specified Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. [NYT]
• DeLay’s phone records are subpoenaed. “The thing is no big deal,” says his attorney. [WP, NYT]
• In private practice, Miers showed “a practical approach to the law with a commitment that everyone has a right to legal representation”; at times her efforts hinted at liberalism. [WP, LAT]

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• ‘06 brings anxiety for Republican candidates about their prospects; Elizabeth Dole faulted for weak performance as chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Analyst: “Is it poor recruiting or a bad environment? Probably both.” [WP, LAT]
• Specter questions Miers‘ qualifications; Bush says she “has excelled at everything she has done.” 27 GOP senators have expressed skepticism. [WP, WSJ, NYT, LAT, WT]
• Brownstein: “Bush picked Miers because he felt strong, not weak. . . Bush bypassed a long list of prominent federal judges who are known quantities to the conservative movement, but just names on a page to him. Instead, he picked someone who is a known quantity to him, but barely a name on the page to them. . . Bush simply overestimated their willingness to defer to him.” [LAT]
• High-level single women in the administration have formed informal social network; Miers has “a lot of girl talk” with Rice. [NYT]
• Republicans worry about a White House without Rove. [WSJ]

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