Top Items:
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
The Un-Spokesman — Scott McClellan's Performance Reflected the White House's Strained Press Relations — He was painful to watch at times, gamely repeating the same stock phrases under a barrage of hostile media fire, grasping for new ways to deliver the same non-answers.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Norwegianity, NewsBusters.org, Wonkette, Media Blog on National … and The Heretik
RELATED ITEMS:
John Dickerson / Slate:
Building a Better Press Secretary — Suggestions for Scott McClellan's successor. — The generals aimed at Donald Rumsfeld and hit Scott McClellan. President Bush is standing by his secretary of defense despite the complaints from retired brass, but today he did accept his press secretary's resignation.
Michelle Malkin:
VIDEO: SHOUTING DOWN A TYRANT — Drudge flash: … I have video coming...stay tuned. — Update: Here's the clip (thanks to Allah Pundit). — Download and watch the video (.wmv file). — Photos from Yahoo!... News coverage from AP: … Question: Will these photos and video be available on a Google search?
RELATED ITEMS:
New York Times:
Things Change, and Stay the Same — President Bush wants to show the nation he's shaking things up in his administration, but it is clear that the people who messed everything up will remain in place. The press secretary goes; the political-and-domestic-policy adviser is losing half his portfolio.
RELATED ITEMS:
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
White House Shifts Into Survival Mode — In a White House known for both defiance and optimism, yesterday's senior staff changes represent a frank acknowledgment of the trouble in which President Bush now finds himself. They are also a signal of how starkly Bush's second-term ambitions …
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Rove Is Giving Up Daily Policy Post to Focus on Vote — WASHINGTON, April 19 — The overhaul of the White House staff intensified on Wednesday as Karl Rove, one of the president's most powerful and feared advisers, gave up day-to-day control over the administration's domestic policy to concentrate on the midterm elections.
Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:
Iraqi Premier's Offer to Step Aside Is Seen as Breakthrough — BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 20 - In a sudden reversal, embattled Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said today that he was willing to relinquish his job, a move that was hailed by the country's other leaders as a breakthrough …
Discussion:
Informed Comment, Needlenose, Donklephant, PoliBlog, The Heretik, PrairiePundit, Outside The Beltway and The Real Ugly American.com
RELATED ITEMS:
Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Al-Jaafari's Move Could Be Breakthrough — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed Thursday to let Shiite leaders reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government.
Jason Leopold / truthout.org:
Grand Jury Hears Evidence Against Rove — Just as the news broke Wednesday about Scott McClellan resigning as White House press secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove shedding some of his policy duties, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence …
Discussion:
WTF Is It Now??
RELATED ITEMS:
Dave Newbart / Chicago Sun Times:
Novak: Feds know who outed CIA agent — Robert Novak said Wednesday that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald knows who outed a CIA agent to the Chicago Sun-Times columnist but hasn't acted on the information because Novak's source committed no crime. — Novak also hinted that he personally …
Michelle Malkin:
POLITICALLY-TIMED IMMIGRATION RAIDS — I speak regularly with dedicated men and women who work for the Department of Homeland Security, and especially agents from across the country who work for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. — I can tell you based on my reporting …
RELATED ITEMS:
Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
Don't Wait, Calibrate — Learn to bend, Mr. Bush. You won't break. — There have been, and apparently will be, personnel changes in the administration. The charmless and much-abused Scott McClellan is out; the focus of Karl Rove's portfolio has shifted back to hardball politics …
RELATED ITEMS:
Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:
Three in One: Michael Hiltzik, Mikekoshi, and Nofanofcablecos — Is an L.A. Times columnist leaving comments on the Internet under assumed "sock puppet" identities — identities which he pretends is someone other than himself? — Read on and judge for yourself. As for me, I've made up my mind, and the answer is "yes."
Discussion:
Winds of Change.NET, Golden State, LA Observed, Hugh Hewitt, Independent Sources, Carol Platt Liebau, Blue Crab Boulevard and lgf
Ken Silverstein / Harpers.org:
The Curt Weldon Employment Agency — Representative Curt Weldon (R., Penn.), a powerful member of the House Armed Services Committee, has been a good friend to the Italian firm Finmeccanica, and it appears that his good deeds on its behalf have been rewarded.
Sean O'Neill / Times of London:
Muslim students 'being taught to despise unbelievers as filth' — Pupils protest as college linked to Iran puts fundamentalist text on curriculum, reports our correspondent — MUSLIM students training to be imams at a British college with strong Iranian links have complained …