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.
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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
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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 …
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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
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 …
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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.
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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
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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 …
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.
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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
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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 …
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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 …