Top Items:
Harold Meyerson:
The GOP's Bankruptcy of Ideas — The emerging Republican game plan for 2006 is, at bottom, a tautology: If the Democrats retake Congress it will mean, well, that the Democrats retake Congress. (Cue lightning bolt and ominous clap of thunder.) Karl Rove and his minions have plumb run out of issues to campaign on.
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Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
GOP narrowing its congressional agenda — Focus is on pleasing base ahead of elections — WASHINGTON — Republican leaders in Congress have all but abandoned efforts to pass major policy initiatives this year, and are instead focusing their energies on a series of conservative favorites …
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Centrist Democrats Urge Party Policy With Muscle — Democratic hawks said yesterday that their party can win a war of ideas with the Republicans over national security, but only if Democrats move beyond simply criticizing President Bush's policies and convince voters they support strategies to defeat Islamic jihadists.
Fred Barbash / Washington Post:
J. Michael Luttig Resigns From Appeals Court — Appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig, a leading conservative jurist and a short-list Bush administration candidate for the Supreme Court, announced today that he is resigning from the bench to serve as senior vice president and general counsel of the Boeing Co.
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Jan Greenburg / Chicago Tribune:
Potential Supreme Court nominee resigns from bench — Prominent federal appeals court judge J. Michael Luttig, who was on the short list for a seat on the Supreme Court, has delivered a letter of resignation to President Bush, effective immediately. — Luttig, 51, has taken a position …
Sheldon Alberts / canada.com:
Cheney's daughter provokes mixed reaction on gay issues — WASHINGTON - Throughout the last U.S. presidential election, Mary Cheney was known to American voters simply as Vice-President Dick Cheney's quiet gay daughter. — No more. — In a memoir published Tuesday …
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, The Raw Story, AMERICAblog, Tennessee Guerilla Women, BlogActive and Brainster's Blog
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wusatv9.com:
EXCLUSIVE: Presidential Plans Found In Trash — How much do you think Osama bin Laden would pay to know exactly when and where the President was traveling, and who was with him? Turns out, he wouldn't have had to pay a dime. All he had to do was go through the trash early Tuesday morning.
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily Blog, The Strata-Sphere, Booman Tribune, Wonkette and Outside The Beltway
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Yochi J. Dreazen / Wall Street Journal:
Bill Shifts Oversight of Some Iraq Aid — Political Dispute Over Funds — Comes at a Transition Point — For Bush's Reconstruction Effort — WASHINGTON — The Bush Administration's effort to rebuild Iraq is winding down, but the political battle over the money's oversight has flared anew.
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Warren Hoge / New York Times:
New U.N. Rights Group Includes Six Nations With Poor Records — UNITED NATIONS, May 9 — Six nations with poor human rights records were among those elected to the new Human Rights Council on Tuesday, although notorious violators that had belonged to the predecessor Human Rights Commission …
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Will / Attytood:
America's new "silent majority" — And so tonight-to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans-I ask for your support. — Richard Nixon, Nov. 3, 1969. — We were reading the New York Times on Sunday, which had an interesting article about the political situation in Ohio …
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Bush Backs Brother Jeb for White House — President Bush suggested Wednesday that he'd like to see his family's White House legacy continue, perhaps with his younger brother Jeb as the chief executive. — The president said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is well-suited for another office and would make "a great president."
Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:
Affluence and Its Discontents — You hear the refrain all the time: The economy looks good statistically (4.7 percent unemployment), but it doesn't feel good. Although the United States is the wealthiest nation in history, our quarrels and quibbles with our prosperity are unending.
NewsMax.com:
John Conyers: U.S. Owes Slavery Reparations — The left wing Democrat who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if his party wins back Congress in November wants to hold full blown congressional hearings on whether the government should pay African Americans reparations for slavery.
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Betsy Pisik / Washington Times:
U.S. to send urgent aid to Palestinians — NEW YORK — The United States agreed under pressure yesterday to the creation of a system to transfer funds for salaries and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians — a softening of its unbending effort to isolate Hamas.
Discussion:
Power Line
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La Shawn / La Shawn Barber's Corner:
Should George Bush Be Impeached? — According to Article II, Section 4, of the United States Constitution: — The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Bill Crawford / All Things Conservative:
IRAQ INDEX SHOWS PROGRESS BEING MADE — The Brookings Institution released its latest Iraq Index this week. I would encourage you to read it all, but here are some notable items: — Per Capita GDP (USD) for 2005 is forecast to increase from the previous year to $1,051. In 2002 it was $802.
Discussion:
Power Line, Done With Mirrors, The Real Ugly American.com, Media Blog on National … and PoliPundit.com
Gateway Pundit:
More Good News! Iraqi Tribal Leaders Unite & Denounce Terror — Wow! Here is some very encouraging news translated by Iraqi-American Haider Ajina from the Iraqi media. Iraqi Sunni, Shia and Kurdish tribal leaders are meeting today to sign a pact to unite and fight terror!
Discussion:
Flopping Aces, Reuters, Sister Toldjah, Dr. Sanity, Blue Crab Boulevard, All Things Conservative and TigerHawk
Heba Saleh / BBC:
Egyptians look to Islam for answers — A religious ruling condemning the display of statues has angered Egyptian liberals and intellectuals who fear it could encourage religious zealots to attack the country's pharaonic heritage. — The ruling was issued by the Mufti, the most senior religious scholar in Egypt.
Eric Deggans / St. Petersburg Times:
Huffington beats odds as blogger … It was not supposed to work this way. — In a medium started by guys typing at computers in their bedrooms, she was a glamorous socialite with an A-list address book of investors and endless media coverage. — Critics swore Arianna Huffington's dream …
Al Kamen / Washington Post:
Costly Words: 'I Don't Like President Bush' — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson was back home in Dallas on April 28 giving a speech to minority real estate folks and offering a most interesting take on how business is done in Washington.
Retardo Montalban / Sadly, No!:
The Hysteries of Tacitus — Josh Trevino (nee' Tacitus, a.k.a. The Marble Douchebag), in the conclusion to one of his patented I'll Concentrate On The Mote In Your Eye If You'll Please Ignore The Huge Pole Up My Ass diatribes (perfectly summarized here), states:
Crooks and Liars:
Podman: Hillary the Bitch — Podman: Hillary the Bitch — Apparently to Podman, a woman can only be a leader if she's a bitch. That's what he says in his new book about Hillary Clinton. Oh, and she's unfeminine. — Video-WMP Video-QT — Media Matters has the transcript:
Independent:
Security services identify 700 potential al-Qa'ida terrorists at large in Britain — At least 700 people suspected of being involved in al-Qa'ida terrorist plots have been identified by MI5 and the police, The Independent understands. — There has been a threefold increase in the number …
Hindrocket / Power Line:
FREE ADVICE FOR PRESIDENT BUSH — The President hasn't asked for my advice, but here it is anyway. — You know how the Democrats are always after you to admit that you made a mistake? You've wisely ignored them; they don't have your interests at heart, and the policies they're talking about weren't mistakes.