From WaPo via Blue Jersey:

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), at the White House this spring for a meeting with other senators to discuss immigration with President Bush, was surprised when Bush approached him as the meeting broke up and observed: “Senator Martinez, you’ve been very quiet.”

“That’s Martinez,” Menendez said, pointing to Mel Martinez — Florida’s junior senator and Bush’s former secretary of housing and urban development.

“I’m Menendez.”

Bush turned bright red, we’re told. Señor Mayor?

George W. Bush: Paying Attention Since…?

Further proof that they just don’t have much to do over at the White House today:

“Mr. Snow, we will be honored if you will play yazz flute for us.”

In case you missed the original:

HT ThinkProgress.

The War in Iraq, the War in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda’s dangerous network, the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Katrina, the war raging in the Middle East, American workers earning a measly $5.15/hr minimum wage, the prospect of no more Social Security, etc. etc.

These are just SOME of the problems facing America and the world at the moment. However, in the spirit of boozy Friday, President Bush today will receive a very special envoy at the White House today. An envoy that has given us so much joy, ample love and above all, that has given us the gift of song–mostly crappy crappy songs, but musical notes, nonetheless. Yes, DoubleSpeak readers, today the Prez welcomes this season’s American Idols. What war in the Middle East?

As a taxpayer, I say that when an envoy such as this comes to greet the President, the White House should shut off the A/C – it’s costing too much as it is to chill that place and well, frankly, all non-essential people to visit the White House don’t deserve to breathe the hard-earned fruits of taxpayer money.

But Bush could use a ratings boost — for months, polls have consistently shown fewer than four in 10 Americans approve of his job performance.

It’s the first time “American Idol” stars — or those from any reality TV show — have earned a White House meeting. Hicks, along with Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin and the show’s other finalists, will visit Bush in the Oval Office this afternoon, give him a gift and pose for pictures.

Although the president is following a time-honored tradition of hosting popular champions at the White House, the juxtaposition with world events could strike some as a bit jarring. Earlier in the day, Bush will meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss the battle between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants, and the continuing sectarian violence in Baghdad.

“It can be tricky, when the Middle East is falling apart, to be spending time with the winner of ‘American Idol,’ ” said Darrell West, a political scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island. “There’s the risk that people will ask, ‘Doesn’t this guy have something better to do? Shouldn’t he be solving foreign crises?’ ”

UPDATE: Photos with the Prez

From Think Progress:

Earlier this year, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which is charged with investigating attorney misconduct, announced that it could not pursue an investigation into the role of Justice lawyers in crafting the NSA warrantless wiretapping program because it was denied security clearance.

Previously, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would not explain why the security clearances had been denied, saying he did not want to “get into internal discussions.” But in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, Gonzales said President Bush personally blocked Justice Department lawyers from pursuing an investigation of the warrantless eavesdropping program.

This is not good, not good at all. Bush is Nixon.

Think Progress has the video from the Alberto Gonzales hearing. Check it out.

Via Taylor Marsh, comes this tidbit from Bush’s current trip abroad. Things just keep getting stranger in the bizarre world of George W. Bush’s foreign policy disaster. As Taylor said:

This is why Iraq and the Middle East are in flames, and we have no credibility around the world. We have a prepubescent president in charge. It is an outrage.

During the G-8 Summit, Bush walked past German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and in a move straight out of a sexual harassment training video — the DON’T portion — groped the chancellor. She didn’t look happy. C&L also has the video.

I wasn’t even a zygote yet when Watergate went down. But, thankfully I get to re-live those days right now in 2006!

That’s right, today’s hearings into the controversial eavesdropping program undertaken by the Bush Administration is revealing some very interesting glimpses into the mind of George W. Bush.

From the AP:

Under sharp questioning from Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, Gonzales said that Bush would not grant the access needed to allow the probe to move forward.

“It was highly classified, very important and many other lawyers had access. Why not OPR?” asked Specter, R-Pa.

“The president of the United States makes the decision,” Gonzales told the committee hearing, during which he was strongly criticized on a range of national security issues by Specter and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), the panel’s senior Democrat.

You can listen to the hearings live on C-Span.

Ok, this one was easy. This is from Bush’s private conversation with T. Blair that was caught by a microphone that was left on. Read the entire transcript, it’s great!

“See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it’s over.”

Read the entire transcript here.

They say you can’t put a price on success, but well, you can put a price on utter, downright failure. Here’s what they make over there at the White House.

Oh, and if you thought that wasn’t enough…Think Progress has more on The Four Most Overpaid White House Staffers.

President Bush did a roundtable interview with a group of foreign journalists yesterday in which he was asked about his feelings on working with the new Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi. The president responded by couching his answer in what a great and accepting guy he is. Did you also know some of his best friends are black?

THE PRESIDENT: …What’s interesting about our country is that we’ve got — we’ve had close ties with a lot of countries. My ranch was settled by Germans.

Q: Really?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. There’s a huge number of Italian Americans. A lot of Russian Americans. You know, Norm Mineta in my Cabinet is a Japanese American. In other words, so when you talk about relations with an American President, you’ve got to understand that there’s a — at least I have, I know my predecessors have, connections, close connections with people who have fond — either fond memories and/or great pride in their motherland.

One thing: Norm Mineta resigned as Transportation Secretary last week.

Well, today is George W. Bush’s 60th birthday. Joe at AmericaBLOG says it pefectly:

Happy Birthday, Mr. President. And, thanks for making the world a much more dangerous place. Your incompetence, lies and ineptitude have created a frightening legacy.

Both of the major national papers today analyzed the fact that Bush is likely to leave the world a far more dangerous place than when he took office in 2001. Bush already told us that the Iraq debacle will be left for the next President to solve, but that’s just one crisis.

Read more of this post…

Happy birthday, Georgie…may your next 60 years be a dizzying as your first 60 years.