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Washington Post:
Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity — News about GOP political corruption, inept hurricane response and chaos in Iraq has lifted Democrats' hopes of winning control of Congress this fall. But seizing the opportunity has not been easy, as they found when they tried to unveil an agenda of their own.
Discussion:
MyDD, Unclaimed Territory, Bring it On!, The Left Coaster, Kudlow's Money Politic$, The RCP Blog, The Democratic Daily Blog, The Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, Blogs for Bush, Gina Cobb, Balloon Juice, Sister Toldjah, Wonkette, Suburban Guerrilla, California Conservative, Hugh Hewitt and BrothersJudd Blog
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Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Democrats Stretch Lead in Vote for Congress — Fourteen-point Democratic lead is among the widest since 1994 — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted Feb. 28 to March 1, finds the Democrats holding a substantial lead over the Republicans as the party …
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
The Democrats' Real Problem — It is now an ingrained journalistic habit: After a period of bad news for President Bush, media outlets invariably devote time and space to "balancing" stories that all say more or less: "Yes, the Republicans are in trouble, but the Democrats have no alternatives, no plans," etc.
Chris Bowers / MyDD:
Two Stories and Two Primaries … Next, from the front-page of the Washington Post: … So, according to Gallup, Democrats are currently in their best position ever to retake the House of Representatives. Yet, despite this, for some reason we are subjected to front-page stories …
New York Post:
IRAQ: THE UNTOLD TRUTHS — AMONG the many positive stories you aren't being told about Iraq, the media ignored another big one last week: In the wake of the terrorist bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, it was the Iraqi army that kept the peace in the streets.
Discussion:
New York Times, The RCP Blog, Gina Cobb, TigerHawk, Dean's World, YARGB, Power Line, irishpennants.com and GOP Bloggers
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE....Ed Kilgore responds to my angry post about the DLC's wonkish 7-point healthcare plan with this: … Here's my guess: in private, I'll bet all of these gentlemen do acknowledge that a simple single-payer national healthcare plan is the best policy.
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Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in Its P.R. Campaign — Brian Pickrell, a blogger, recently posted a note on his Web site attacking state legislation that would force Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health insurance. "All across the country, newspaper editorial boards …
Discussion:
BuzzMachine, Thoughts of an Average Woman, Outside The Beltway, Wonkette, PoliBlog, Marathon Pundit, Personal Democracy Forum, Blogmeister USA, The Hotline's Blogometer, Norwegianity, The Talent Show, Brainster's Blog, Attytood, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Crazy Politico's Rantings, Iowa Voice, PunditGuy, Marquette Warrior, AGITPROP, Think Progress, Media Blog on National …, SIVACRACY.NET, Roger Ailes, Economist's View, Fraters Libertas, Left in the West, Crescat Sententia, The Conspiracy to Keep … and NewsBusters.org
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Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Judicious Double Standards — Back behind my high school one day, we all assembled to watch a fistfight. To my immense pleasure, a bully was being bested by his victim. Then the bully's friend stepped in and ended matters with a swift kick to the other guy's midsection.
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE
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Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
Survey Says — Let the exchange of trade and ideas with Iran begin.
Survey Says — Let the exchange of trade and ideas with Iran begin.
Discussion:
Dinocrat, David E's Fablog, The American Thinker, Decision '08 and Unqualified Offerings
Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Envoy to Iraq Warns of Wider War — He supports the White House view that an early pullout would backfire, but he is bleak about the Sunni-Shiite conflict and says it could spread. — BAGHDAD — The top U.S. envoy to Iraq said Monday that the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime had opened a …
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Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Bush Weaves Rug Story Into Many an Occasion — President Uses His Oval Office Floor Covering as a Metaphor for Optimism and Leadership — Nothing says power like the Oval Office. The paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The bust of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The desk used by both Roosevelts.
Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings:
Why We Need Oversight — Via Firedoglake, here's the sort of dastardly act that can get the Department of Homeland Security interested in you: … Bear in mind that this is the same Department of Homeland Security that's responsible not just for blowing the federal response to Katrina, but for this:
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
House Conservatives Prepare Austere Alternative Budget — WASHINGTON, March 6 — With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Booman Tribune, Right Wing News, Sister Toldjah, Air America Radio and Hugh Hewitt
Associated Press:
Driver at UNC Cites Vengeance for Muslims — CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 6 — A University of North Carolina graduate from Iran, accused of running down nine people on campus to avenge the treatment of Muslims, said at a hearing Monday that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."
Discussion:
The Anchoress, Hugh Hewitt, Captain's Quarters, Rantingprofs, Raleigh News & Observer, UNCoRRELATED and Discriminations
John Ward Anderson / Washington Post:
Iraqi Tribes Strike Back at Insurgents — In Turbulent Areas, Zarqawi's Fighters Are Target of Leaders and a New Militia — BAGHDAD, March 6 — First they killed the chief of the Naim tribe and his son. Then they killed a top tribal sheik who headed the Fallujah city council.
Discussion:
The Fourth Rail, QandO, In the Bullpen, A Blog For All, Defense Tech, Outside The Beltway, The Dread Pundit Bluto and On Deadline
Associated Press:
Election - Year Politics Shadow Ports Issue — WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are using the uproar over an Arab company's planned takeover of some U.S. port operations to paint Republicans as faltering on the GOP's signature issue — national security — and accuse them of ignoring port safety in the past.
Somini Sengupta / New York Times:
Bombings in India Raise Fear of Sectarian Violence — NEW DELHI, March 7 — A series of apparently coordinated bombs went off in the ancient Hindu holy city of Benares in eastern India this evening, raising the specter of sectarian violence. — The first bomb exploded at the Sankat Mochan temple shortly …
USA Today:
8,000 desert during Iraq war — At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although the overall desertion rate has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. — Since fall 2003, 4,387 Army soldiers …
White House:
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan — MR. MCCLELLAN: Let me begin with an announcement on the President's schedule. The President will welcome President Toledo of Peru to the White House on March 10th. The visit will be an opportunity for the President to underscore his appreciation …