Jed fucking Bartlet has joined fellow ex-president Matthew Santos in endorsing the failure Bill Richardson for president. Both Bartlet and Santos, of course, were presidents on teevee’s The West Wing, so it was really Martin Estevez Sheen and Jimmy Smits who did the endorsing. Sheen made his announcement Sunday, while Smits’ came several months ago. Both are impressed with Richardson’s…. experience… diplom… fat…. Oh obviously it’s because they’re all goddamn Hispanic. MORE »

Paul Bremer and Dennis Kucinich are totally deluded, Patrick McHenry and George Will are likely quaaluded, David Wu and Bradley Whitford are enrapt, and Helen Thomas is trapped — going to the same restaurants she’s been going to since her 60’s, or the 60’s, whichever.

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* Joint Chiefs wary of troop increase in Iraq, make their case to the White House, get accused of being too “focused on the mission.” [WP]
* Robert Gates is sworn in as Secretary of Defense, uses occasion to dig Rumsfeld. Plus one. [WP]
* Rudy Giuliani is about to find out how Christian conservatives feel about politicians that are “Made in New York City.” [WP]
* Big Juan Enrique was a lettuce pickin’ man, died with that arugula in his hand. [WSJ]
* Justice Department inquiry into detainee abuse runs into dead-end, produces no indictments. [NYT]
* Sam Brownback lays down and lets a nominee for the Federal bench proceed, expects a reach-around. [NYT]
* India’s nuclear program goes legit. [WP, NYT]
* Renovated White House “Situation Room” is substantially less impressive than those used by Bartlett, Bauer, and Blitzer. [NYT]

* James Carville says of Howard Dean: “I would describe his leadership as Rumsfeldian in its competence.” [Window on Washington]
* Jack Abramoff loved Byron Dorgan and Byron Dorgan loved Jack Abramoff. [Say Anything]
* Fred Thompson should replace John Bolton at the UN. His experience in international diplomacy acquired during The Hunt for Red October and the daring Aces: Iron Eagle III missions will serve him well. [World Wide Standard]
* It happened again: actual White House makes error Bartlet White House made in 2004. [Think Progress]
* Tucker Carlson accuses President Bush of being a lightweight partier, says he can only handle, “like three beers or something.” [Media Matters]
* Somebody paid $2 million to Palestinian militants for the release of kidnapped Fox News reporters. Bill O’Reilly thinks it’s a bargain, as it cost him more than that, “to get that bitch to shut up about the falafel.” [World Net Daily]

The results are in, and surprise: You nerds really liked “The West Wing.” Almost half (45.7%) of you, asked when you finally gave up on the show, said “I watched it to the end and I don’t appreciate your tone.” (Too fucking bad.) Only 9.7% of you said you never watched it. That left 44.6% who watched the show and dropped out before the finale, which is a little better than NBC actually did in retaining its viewers. Sample bias, blah blah. MORE »

Karl Rove has figured out how to save the GOP majority: Release the 45-disc complete series box of “The West Wing” on election day. How will liberals crawl to the polls when they’re weighted down by 40 pounds of C.J.’s, Sam’s, Toby’s and President Bartlet’s wackiest adventures?

If you’re a fan of “The West Wing” (1999-2006 R.I.P.), click beneath the fold and take the poll.

The West Wing - Complete Series and Season 7 Announced [TVShowsonDVD]

– David Weigel

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Outside the Beltway has posted video of right-wing zealot Chris Matthews’s recent appearance on Jay Leno. MORE »

• Reliable Source: The last episode of the West Wing was filled with mistakes. . . Ted Olson will defend Michael Skakel. . . Michael Hayden spotted at the Bombay Club. . . Andy Card and his family seen at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Tysons Corner. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: McCain jokes that Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) was a bastard child. . . Congress will consider naming Clinton’s birthplace as a National Historic Site. [Roll Call]
• Cindy Adams: Pataki will fundraise for Jeanine Pirro. [NYP]
• Page Six: Chelsea took Hillary to “The Pajama Game” for Mother’s Day. [NYP]

* Reliable Source: Sen. Kennedy will make his first appearance on “The Daily Show” tomorrow night. . . “The Sentinel,” the “first big-budget drama in a while set in the nation’s capital,” opens Friday. [WP]
* Under the Dome: Moran brothers jump at the chance to represent for DeLay. . . Rep. Dennis Kucinich runs out of his office to help the victim of traffic accident. . . Melissa Fitzgerald, of “West Wing” fame, is hosting a fundraiser for City Council candidate Robert Gordon. . . Press release from Sen. Reid refers to Rob Portman as Bob. [The Hill]
* Inside the Beltway: The Bible will be read aloud on the West Lawn of the Capitol beginning April 30th. [WT]
* Liz Smith: Democrats won’t take Larry Flynt’s “dirty money.” [NYP]
* The Scoop: Willem Dafoe says any connection between Cheney and the vice president character that he plays in “American Dreamz” is by “accident.” [MSNBC]

* Rush Limbaugh on Hillary Clinton: “She sounds like a screeching ex-wife.” Heh, he should know. [Media Matters] MORE »

* Reliable Source: Jenna Bush spotted at Glover Park Starbucks sporting “cute new chin-length do” and “teal houndstooth coat”. . . NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli says “Oh, shit!” on the air. . . Bradley Whitford says his “West Wing” character will “spend the day naked in bed with a woman”. . . Rep. John Dingell is now the second longest-serving House member of all time. [WP]
* Rush & Molloy: Clinton comments on Cheney: “They raise the quail on a farm. It’s hardly a sport. The quail are slow. You have to stomp on the ground to get them to get up and fly. And you can’t not get your limit. If it was that kind of farm, then, whatever the facts are, the Vice President shouldn’t have done that. Because he was going to get his limit.”. . . George Lucas suggests Cheney is secretly controlling Bush. [NYDN]
* Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.): “Part of [Bush's] persona is his alcoholism. I have alcoholics in my family. They’re lucky to have an epiphany, and life begins at that epiphany. I think life began for George W. Bush at age 40.” [NYDN]