Will the Real Bill Frist Please Stand Up?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Views on Immigrants

A majority of Americans now think immigrants are a burden on society, but they're also viewed more positively than ever before. A new Pew poll shows that 80 percent of Americans think immigrants from Latin America work very hard and have strong family values while just 33 percent say their presence significantly increases crime.

Ivy League Backtracking

Harvard's Kennedy School of Government is now distancing itself from a paper co-written by a senior academic alleging that a cabal of Jewish and pro-Israel American officials manipulated the U.S. into invading Iraq. After publishing the report, "Israel Lobby” two weeks ago, the school has now asked co-author Stephen Walt to step down as academic dean.

What's more, Harvard will publish a rebuttal by law professor Alan Dershowitz, who alleges much of the research came from racist Web sites.

Unleashing the ‘Real Bill Frist’

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says his job is a "terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible" post for seeking the presidential nomination, which is why he's stepping down from the Senate when his term ends this year.

Frist says the leadership role results in too many "negotiated positions," adding that the American people will "see the real Bill Frist, but unencumbered by having responsibilities of leading this body."

The former heart surgeon says he'll spend much of his time after the Senate working on public speaking. He says, "As a surgeon, I did my best work when people were sound asleep... now what I need to do, everybody says, is do your best work and not put people to sleep."

Photographic Evidence?

And a Republican congressional candidate in California, who funds the pro-war group Move America Forward, blames the media for exaggerating the violence in Iraq. To prove it Howard Kaloogian posted a picture of a tranquil street scene on his Web site that he says he snapped on a recent trip to Baghdad. Only problem is the picture was taken in Turkey. Sharp-eyed bloggers spotted the fake, noting that none of the street signs were in Arabic.

Kaloogian has since acknowledged the error and blamed the manager of his Web site for the mistake.

— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.