Wonkette

• Bush, seeking a “rational middle ground” on immigration to rescue his second term, announces the deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border; Karl Rove indicates that Bush supports the Senate’s immigration plan. Bush: “We do not yet have full control of the border, and I am determined to change that.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WSJ]
• Immigration issue could go from “opportunity to expand the Republican Party” to a “historic liability”; Bush sought to “define the middle ground in a debate where consensus has been difficult.” 74% of Americans, in poll conducted before the presidential address, supported the use of Guard troops on the border. [WP]
• BellSouth denies “any link” with the NSA for the logging of phone calls; USA Today stands by its story. [USAT, NYT, WSJ]
• Pentagon releases the full list of those detained at Guantanamo Bay after the Associated Press files a FOIA request. [AP]
• Rove is optimistic for the GOP’s chances in November: “Look, we’re in a sour time. I readily admit it. I mean, being in the middle of a war where people turn on their television sets and see brave men and women dying is not something that makes people happy and optimistic and upbeat. But I’m absolutely confident [that] we’re going to be just fine in the fall elections.” [WP]
• Emergency spending bill has yet to be slimmed to Bush’s specifications. [WP]

MORE »

• WP politics editor John Harris: “For all its interesting and useful features, some things I don’t like about the on-line crankosphere are its frequent humorlessness and tendency to blow issues way out of proportion.” FUCK HIM!!!! BOYCOTT THE WASHINGTON POST AND ITS BUSH-TOTING TOADY COVERAGE!!! [WashingtonPost.com]
• Dial-a-bite Sabato gets a couplet comeuppance: “need a quote/do not tarry/call U-Va. and ask for Larry.” [WP]
• “JON KLEIN LIKES SHOWTUNES.” [FBNY]
• Please be gentle with Arianna. [Esquire]
• Tom Shales lights into the new Nightline’s faux gravitas: “‘Shorter shorts — a sign of the times?’ Probably not.” [WP]

We’ve liberated The Washingtonian’s “50 Best and Most Influential Journalists” list from Nexis, taking for granted that no one cares about the 500 words explaining criteria and* We’ve extracted the names from the Washingtonian’s list of D.C.’s “50 Best and Most Influential Journalists” and its sidebars, assuming that those of you who need two-sentence bios of each person can still run out and buy a copy (hey, THE STICK is on the cover) and the rest of you would just rather skip the context and carp and whine about who’s on the list. And, more interestingly, who’s not. The list skews heavily male (with only seven chicks, unless you count Dana Milbank), heavily white and heavily heavy (Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Tom Shales) . No bloggers, except in the sidebars, where AMERICABLOGGER (! Stars, stripes, cue music!) John Avarosis gets a shout out.

More lacunae: Matt Cooper escapes mention, tho his colleague Mike Allen and co-martyr Judy Miller are both on it. Snarky WP ex-WHC Milbank gets a nod over the Post’s current White House reporters. And while we heartily approve of not considering bloggers journalists (though we don’t consider Maureen Dowd one either, and she’s on there), tossing out the entire internet seems, well, obtuse: Jack Shafer’s meth addiction is, apparently, for naught. Pretty much the entire list could have been put together five years ago, actually. Perhaps it was.

List and sidebars after the jump.
*Of COURSE no one asked us to take this list down. We’re this nice just all on our own. Really.

Washingtonian

MORE »