Today’s edition of quick hits.
* AP: “A federal judge approved an immunity deal Friday allowing former Justice Department aide Monica Goodling to testify before Congress about the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Goodling, who served as the department’s White House liaison, has refused to discuss the firings without a guarantee that she will not be prosecuted. Congress agreed to the deal, Justice Department investigators reluctantly agreed not to not oppose it and U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan gave it final approval Friday.”
* McClatchy: “Only weeks before last year’s pivotal midterm elections, the White House urged the Justice Department to pursue voter-fraud allegations against Democrats in three battleground states, a high-ranking Justice official has told congressional investigators. In two instances in October 2006, President Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove, or his deputies passed the allegations on to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson.”
* NYT: “The Bush administration reached agreement on Thursday with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats to attach environmental and worker protections in several pending trade accords, clearing the way for early passage of some pacts and improving prospects for others.”
* Here’s a good example of what’s wrong with the war-funding frame embraced by most of the national media: “During the May 11 edition of MSNBC Live, NBC News congressional correspondent Chip Reid described the Iraq war funding bill that the House passed May 10 as ‘very clearly veto bait,’ adding that in contrast to the House, the Senate ‘has said’ that it ‘need[s] to pass something here the president can sign because we don’t want to be accused of being the ones cutting off funding to troops in the field, while they’re in harm’s way.'” Why isn’t the burden on the president to sign a spending bill passed by Congress? Because of narratives like this one.
* PBS anchor Jim Lehrer on Australian public radio: “If somebody in the media just assumes everybody in the government is a liar, that’s no way to operate.” It isn’t?
* For Saks customers, the economy’s great. For everyone else, not so much.
* It’s not just that Lou Dobbs is demagogic on immigration; it’s that he’s demagogic and makes stuff up about immigration.
* If you want to give yourself an awful headache, be sure to read Richard Perle’s WaPo op-ed on why the war in Iraq is George Tenet’s fault.
* Opie and Anthony are sick bastards.
* CNN International, reporting on Tony Blair stepping down as the British Prime Minister, ran “Bush Resigns” on screen. One, this won’t help Blair’s image. Two, we aren’t that lucky.
* Ethics trouble for Sen. (and RNC chairman) Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).
* Ann Coulter got some good news when law enforcement officials in Florida cleared her of allegations that she falsified her Florida voter registration and voted illegally. The odd part of the story, however, is that she was cleared after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to vouch for the conservative pundit. Hmm.
* CBS News’ story for why it fired Gen. Batiste has been changing throughout the day, but it still doesn’t make sense.
* House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is easily confused when it comes to … well, almost everything.
* National Review’s Victor Davis Hanson believes war supporters are 22 for 23 out when it comes to the provisions of the original 2002 war resolution. He’s not even close.
* There’s a new right-wing meme making the rounds (on Fox News, among other outlets) that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius blamed equipment shortages in her state after the tornado disaster only after coordinating her message with DNC Chairman Howard Dean. Needless to say, this is completely baseless.
* And finally, weekend readers will want to check in tomorrow morning. Something interesting is going on — which I’ll explain in a little more than 12 hours. See you then.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.