* Where the hell is the Stephen Colbert video from the WHCA dinner? That video is now available on “public service” C-SPAN’s website for $24.95. Thanks cable industry! [Boing Boing] MORE »

Here’s the White House rebuttal to allegations that President Bush, despite his recent assertion that the national anthem should be sung in English, used to sing it in Spanish while on the campaign trail: MORE »

Things you shouldn’t get too excited about: MORE »

* You have to respect hookers. Who else could take a regular oldho hum corruption case and make it really get interesting? This one could get very good, so keep watching — it’ll all be here.
* It’s just wait on see on our old buddy Karl too. All the orange jumpsuit pics will be here once we get ‘um.
* In the category of news that’s not news, but everyone wants to hear anyway, George Clooney spoke at the National Press Club. Swoon, swoon, loving sigh, swoon. Seems also that the light from George’s star burns so bright, it extinguishes other lesser, previously scheduled, stellar formations.
* Scott McCllelan has only been gone for a week and already Bush has a new lamb to lead to slaughter. They say Tony can take it though, that he’s a cool customer and part time rock god, but we’re reserving judgment til an .mp3 comes through. We did get a chance to go see for ourselves that everyone else was more than happy to line up for the gravy train.
* The kickball kids must have been too drunk to talk to reporters, and the non-profiter’s Ultimate league has already gone underground, so the Wall Street Journal (the paper to read if you really want to know what’s going on) put a little piece about Hill softball up on the front page and now all the staffers are a twitter. They’re not really fooling anyone (we already know what’s in the red cups) but the hitting and catching is a nice garnish.
* Don’t think we forgot there’s a huge party tonight. Wonkette’s gonna be there, and we’ll tell you all about it so it’ll be just like you were too.

Another Friday, another roundup of Today’s Cartoons vivisected for your amusement by experienced caricature-identifier The Comics Curmudgeon.

This week: are they laughing at you? Are they? How can you tell? CC knows, and he’s here to help. All the grotesque feature-exaggerating you can handle, after the jump.

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Scotty McClellan is going out, as he came in, dealing with tough questions from our top-notch press corps. From today’s gaggle: MORE »

* Rove testifies for several hours in the CIA leak case; testimony “focused almost exclusively on his conversation about Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in 2003 and whether the top aide later tried to conceal it.” [WP, NYT, W$J]
* Tony Snow could be “the first outsider to become part of Bush’s revamped inner circle”; aides admit there is “broad agreement that the first-term strategy of largely ignoring the mainstream Washington media was a mistake.” Dan Bartlett: “There is a lot of value added in Tony coming on board and helping us internally with his own views and ideas.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
* New spending bill brings cost of the war in Iraq to $320B; total cost of Afghanistan and Iraq missions will exceed the price of the Vietnam War. [WP]
* Approval of Congress in NBC/WSJ poll has dropped 11 points in the past month; respondents are increasingly pessimistic about the direction of the nation and the economy. 77% are “uneasy about the economy” and 44% are tired of partisan fighting. Pollster: “You have never seen such a sour mood in the country. It is sour, sour, sour.” [MSNBC, W$J]
* Senate report concludes FEMA should be abolished because problems are “too substantial to mend.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Rumsfeld, Rice visit Baghdad after prodding from Bush; “they were embracing perhaps the last chance the Bush administration had to turn around public opinion at home and to ensure that Iraq has a viable political future.” [WP, NYT, W$J]

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The mainstream media regularly decries the Bush White House’s communications problem. Much of the blame used to go to poor Scott McClellan, just replaced by Tony Snow as press secretary. Some of the attacks on Scotty were so harsh — e.g., Michael Wolff’s Vanity Fair article — that you couldn’t help feeling bad for the guy (at least a little). MORE »

Bush: “Tony already knows most of you, and he’s agreed to take the job anyway.” Hey! Someone finally got around to reading that 50 Tricks to Great Public Speaking book he’s had sitting around for 6 years. MORE »

* Tony Snow will be appointed White House press secretary as soon as today; he intends to “function as an advocate for reporters.” Brit Hume: “I think he’s excited by the idea of being on the inside. He believes he will be at the table when decisions are made. For someone of his bent, that’s too good to pass up.” [WP, NYT]
* Bush, “amid growing Republican unrest about the politics of $3-plus gasoline,” offers to investigate price gouging, stop shipments to the reserve, and ease environmental regulations. [WP, NYT, W$J, USAT]
* Bush seeks $2.2B for levee reconstruction and $14B in cost reductions from non-emergency spending. [NYT, W$J]
* Republicans block tax hike on oil company profits. [WP]
* Rumsfeld makes surprise trip to Baghdad; Senate Armed Service Committee may invite testimony from former generals who have called for his resignation. [WP, WP]
* Frist, Reid are optimistic that compromise on immigration can be reached by Memorial Day. [NYT]

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* Tony Snow will “likely” replace Scott McClellan. [CNN, NYT]
* Bush and Republican lawmakers face blame for high gas prices yet have “few if any” available short-term solutions; president will call today for the strict enforcement of price gouging laws. [WP, W$J]
* Attorney for fired CIA officer denies his client leaked classified information to the Washington Post. [WP]
* Bush presses for bipartisan agreement on immigration, though he is not backing a specific proposal. Bush: “I know this is an emotional debate, and I can understand it’s emotional, but one thing we cannot lose sight of is that we’re talking about human beings, decent human beings.” [WP, NYT, W$J, USAT]
* Many Republican candidates are plotting how to distance themselves from Bush and the war; approval of the president dips to 32% in CNN poll. [NYT, CNN]
* Excessive supplemental provisions to emergency spending bill receive renewed criticisms. [NYT]

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