Top Items:
Ron Fournier / Associated Press:
Bush's Approval Rating Falls to New Low — WASHINGTON - More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.
RELATED ITEMS:
Peter Baker / Washington Post:
In an Election Year, GOP Wary of Following Bush — When President Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove mapped out plans for a political comeback in 2006, this was nowhere on the script. Suddenly, the collapse of a port-management deal neither even knew about a month ago has devastated …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Mahablog, BlueNC, PBD, TalkLeft, Blah3.com, The Heretik, The Left Coaster and ScrappleFace
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Panel on Eavesdropping Is Briefed by White House — The new seven-senator intelligence subcommittee created to review the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program had its first White House briefing yesterday and is scheduled to visit the National Security Agency's headquarters Monday …
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Burning Allies — and Ourselves — DUBAI — Officials here heard late Thursday that Karl Rove had decided to pull the plug. President Bush's political adviser was said to have conveyed to a top manager of Dubai Ports World in Washington that the White House couldn't hold out any longer …
Discussion:
Daniel W. Drezner, Macsmind, All Things Beautiful, QandO, The Strata-Sphere, Right Wing News, Crazy Politico's Rantings, Middle Earth Journal, protein wisdom, The American Mind, Instapundit.com, GOP Bloggers, The RCP Blog, NewDonkey.com, Shakespeare's Sister, Captain's Quarters, Secular Blasphemy and BrothersJudd Blog
RELATED ITEMS:
Paul Blustein / Washington Post:
Overseas Firms Entrenched in Ports — Despite Dubai Company's Withdrawal, Others Are Likely to Stay Put — The decision by Dubai Ports World to abandon its effort to take over terminal operations at six U.S. seaports was a victory for the numerous politicians who have thundered in recent days …
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
U.S. Sets Plans to Aid Iraq in Civil War — The U.S. military will rely primarily on Iraq's security forces to put down a civil war in that country if one breaks out, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told lawmakers yesterday. — Sectarian violence in Iraq has reached a level unprecedented since …
RELATED ITEMS:
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Kurd Card — Lost amid the news of all the bloodletting in Iraq is an important political development: The Kurds have switched sides. In the first parliament after the first set of elections, they allied themselves with the Shiite slate to produce the current Shiite-dominated government led by Ibrahim al-Jafari.
Discussion:
Dr. Sanity
David Stout / New York Times:U.S. to Rely on Iraqi Forces to Quell Civil War, Rumsfeld Says
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
Jesse / Jesse Berney dot com:
Elizabeth Dole is a racist — Check out FancyFord.com, a racist attack site created by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to oppose Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., who's running for Senate in Tennessee. — What's the message behind this site? The line of white women on the front page …
RELATED ITEM:
rawstory.com:
Retired Supreme Court Justice hits attacks on courts and warns of dictatorship — RAW STORY — Via NPR. Rush transcript by RAW STORY. Listen to the audio report here. — Supreme Court justices keep many opinions private but Sandra Day O'Connor no longer faces that obligation.
RELATED ITEM:
Will / Attytood:
Breaking: Sandra Day O'Connor rips into GOP, DeLay, Cornyn, and warns of the "beginnings" of dictatorship — NPR's Nina Totenberg aired an amazing story this morning about a talk that just-resigned Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor gave at Georgetown University.
PSoTD:
The Critical Questions — The entire NSA spy scandal boils down to personal questions that each American ought to be asking themselves and their members of Congress: — Most importantly - is it legal for the NSA to be spying on me? — What are the minimum requirements to meet for the NSA to spy on me?
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
RELATED ITEMS:
Vichy Democrats:
ROOTS PROJECT: Pennsylvania — (Last updated: Friday March 10 @ 11:30 am Penna. time) — The Roots Project — The Roots Project is a coordinated effort by national and local bloggers to develop the netroots in each state, and convert them into what I call "netboots" …
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:Roots Pennsylvania — Now that the Senate Intelligence Committee …
Discussion:
Vichy Democrats
Digby / Hullabaloo:
They Mean It — It's pretty clear that the assault on women's reproductive rights is in full swing. I suspect that many Republicans know that their legislative majority days may be numbered and they are trying to deliver for their constituents before they lose their perch. — This one's a twofer.
RELATED ITEMS:
Jill Gardiner / New York Sun:
Alarm Spreads Over Remarks Of Jail Imam — Extremist remarks made by the head imam of the city's jail system are generating alarm about whether inmates are being recruited as Islamic fundamentalists. — Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city has suspended Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil …
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
RELATED ITEM:
White House:
President Signs USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act — Fact Sheet: Safeguarding America: President Bush Signs Patriot Act Reauthorization — THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. Thanks for the applause. Glad you're here in the people's house. — I'm going to sign …
RELATED ITEM:
Philip Shenon / New York Times:
$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush — WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction …
Ogged / The Washington Monthly:
The Pie Strategy — You bastards already hate me. Probably. … This is not only depressing, it's boring. We're playing out everyone's favorite dynamic of suspicion vs. grievance. Right-wingers like to pretend that they're the only ones who dare say that we were attacked by MUSLIMS!
Aleksander Boyd / vcrisis.com:
North American opinion Research Inc. replies to Vcrisis — Julio Makarem and Ricardo Valbuena have published today a two page communiqué in Venezuela's most read newspaper Ultimas Noticias (see below). In it they accuse me, among other things, of being part, together with Gustavo Coronel …
MSNBC:
Pentagon admits errors in spying on protesters — NBC: Official says peaceful demonstrators' names erased from database — The Department of Defense admitted in a letter obtained by NBC News on Thursday that it had wrongly added peaceful demonstrators to a database of possible domestic terrorist threats.
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily Blog
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Frist turns back on Reporters over the Dubai port deal — Frist turns back on Reporters over the Dubai port deal — There's a big split happening in the GOP (primarily over political positioning) and it was magnified by Hastert's view of the "port deal" who did take questions from reporters …
Output Producer, CA — 
China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — 
Senior Assignment Editor, DC — 
Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — 
Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — 
Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — 
Local Government Reporter, IA — 
Research Director, CA — 
Immigration Enforcement Reporter — 
Presque Island Reporter, ME — 
Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — 
AI Content Editor, WA — 
Legislative Reporter, TN — 
Editorial Assistant, Remote US — 
Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — 
Government & Politics Editor, WA — 
Business & GA Reporter. VT — 
Sports Reporter, WA — 
Energy Reporter, TX — 
Senior Reporter, SC — 
Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — 
Reporter, WI — 
Political Newsletter Writer, CO — 
Jackson Reporter, MS — 
Music Editor, AZ — 
Breaking News Reporter, NV — 
Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — 
Reporter II - Technology, Remote — 
Editor, Remote US — 
City Reporter, WA — 
Executive Editor, OR — 
Education & Budget Reporter, CA — 
Senior Writer/Editor, FL — 
Media Editor, Remote — 
