Top Items:
CNN:
Bush nominates Hayden for CIA chief — Some lawmakers question selection of military officer for post — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to be the new CIA chief Monday, setting up a possible battle with members of Congress who question whether …
Discussion:
TPM Muckraker, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, The Carpetbagger Report, Jay Reding.com and Althouse
RELATED ITEMS:
Justin Rood / TPM Muckraker:
EXCLUSIVE: CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to MZM — While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Terence Hunt / Associated Press:
Bush Turns to Gen. Hayden to Lead CIA — WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday chose Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to lead the embattled Central Intelligence Agency, re-igniting a debate over the domestic surveillance program that the onetime head of the National Security Agency once ran.
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, In From the Cold, Wizbang, Super Fun Power Hour, Iowa Voice, Power Line and Outside The Beltway
Washington Post:
Hayden Nominated to Head CIA — President Bush named Gen. Michael V. Hayden as CIA director today in the face of heavy criticism from Republicans as well as Democrats. — Bush cited Hayden's background of "more than 20 years of experience" as he announced the nomination, which was widely reported over the weekend.
Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:
Rove's Time in Limbo Near End in CIA Leak Case — Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is wrapping up his investigation into White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's role in the CIA leak case by weighing this central question: — Did Rove, who was deeply involved in defending President Bush's use …
RELATED ITEMS:
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Rove Is Using Threat of Loss to Stir G.O.P. — WASHINGTON, May 5 — To anyone who doubts the stakes for the White House in this year's midterm Congressional elections, consider that Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the Democrat who would become chairman of the Judiciary Committee …
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Republicans Stoke an Old Fire: Judicial Nominations — WASHINGTON, May 7 — Republicans are itching for a good election-year fight. Now they are about to get one: a reprise of last year's Senate showdown over judges. — It has been a year since a bipartisan group of 14 senators …
Christopher Lee / Washington Post:
Bush's Appointees Not As Diverse as Clinton's — President Bush's crop of political appointees includes fewer women and minorities than did President Bill Clinton's at comparable points in their presidencies, according to a new report by House Democrats. — Women made up about 37 percent …
RELATED ITEMS:
Al Kamen / Washington Post:
The USDA on Iraq: Everything's Coming Up Rosy — Career appointees at the Department of Agriculture were stunned last week to receive e-mailed instructions that include Bush administration "talking points" — saying things such as "President Bush has a clear strategy for victory in Iraq" — in every speech they give for the department.
BBC:
Ahmadinejad sends letter to Bush — Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to George W Bush proposing "new solutions" to their differences. — The letter will be sent via the Swiss Embassy which represents US interests in Iran, a government spokesman said.
RELATED ITEMS:
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy — It's hard to imagine that Patrick Kennedy would have gotten elected to Congress a dozen years ago without his last name. — It's equally hard to imagine that the media would be going wild about his late-night car crash and prescription drug addiction if he weren't a Kennedy.
RELATED ITEMS:
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
His Legacy and His Library Occupy Bush's Thoughts — WASHINGTON — President Bush had dinner last month on the Stanford University campus at the home of George P. Shultz, who was President Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, and the topic of conversation was not, as might be expected, the war in Iraq.
Ryan J. Donmoyer / Bloomberg:
Republicans Set Aside Middle-Income Tax Cuts to Focus on Rich — Listen — May 8 (Bloomberg) — Republican lawmakers, facing the prospect that their power to cut taxes may soon be curbed, plan to extend breaks that mostly benefit the wealthy and Wall Street at the expense of reductions for middle-income households.
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
RELATED ITEMS:
Michael Barone / Real Clear Politics:
Immigration: The Ugly Duckling Issue — We have become accustomed in the six years of the George W. Bush presidency to seeing issues split the parties and the nation down the middle, with almost all Republicans on one side and almost all Democrats on the other.
Jill / Brilliant at Breakfast:
Second thoughts on Hillary — There are increasing rumbles of dissatisfaction with the Inevitability of Hillary Clinton juggernaut as the 2008 presidential campaign gets underway. First we had Kos' op-ed piece in yesterday's WaPo, which points out what many of us already knew …
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
The Enemy Within — Democrats may not be able to win the House, but Republicans could lose it. — Ken Mehlman is the unflappable efficiency expert who chairs the Republican National Committee. Because he's not known for histrionics, his warning last week to GOP congressional staffers …