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Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Democrats Outline a Platform for the Fall — WASHINGTON, June 16 — Declaring their party "ready for this election," Democratic leaders in Congress on Friday announced the platform they hope to use to regain the majority in November. — Their plan, presented at a news conference …
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Salon:
They really, really support the troops — Republican congressmen like Walter Jones and Ron Paul hoped that the House of Representatives might have a serious debate about the future of a war that has claimed 2,500 American lives. Dennis Hastert, John Boehner and others in the Republican leadership thought …
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Big Lizards
Telegraph:
How the Chicks survived their scrap with Bush — Adam Sweeting assesses how the Dixie Chicks have weathered a political storm — Will it be the salmon teriyaki with organic greens, or asparagus tempura and tuna sashimi? As the waiter hovers with pencil poised, the Dixie Chicks debate …
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Liberty Street, Cold Fury, Gut Rumbles, All Things Conservative, Flopping Aces, QandO, The Democratic Daily and Blue Crab Boulevard
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Michelle Malkin:
DIXIE CHICKS QUESTION YOUR PATRIOTISM — But don't question theirs (gallon-sized hat tip: Coalition of the Swilling)... Here are country singers who aren't sickened by their country. — Support "ultra-patriotism" through Project Prayer Flag. — More photos of soldiers and American flags to turn Natalie Maines' stomach:
Washington Post:
Fall Elections Are Rove's Next Test — Reputation as Architect of Victory at Stake — White House political strategist Karl Rove emerges from the CIA leak case with his reputation scuffed, his power slightly diminished, and Republicans counting on him, once again, to help rescue their House and Senate majorities.
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Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Horse's Mouth, AMERICAblog, The Moderate Voice, The Heretik and TalkLeft
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Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:
Karl Rove Laughs Last — THE LEFTIES AND THE MEDIA are right about Karl Rove. That's why they're in a dither now that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has cleared Rove of any criminal wrongdoing in the overblown leak case involving CIA functionary Valerie Plame.
Eleanor Clift / Newsweek:
Rove's Trap — The president's strategist is politicizing the Iraq war for partisan political gain. Will the Dems figure out how to fight back? — June 16, 2006 - Our towel-snapping president is feeling better. He joked and jostled with the press for almost an hour, high on adrenalin after his secret trip to Baghdad.
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Antiwar Crucible in Connecticut — Back in 1962, when Joseph Lieberman was 20, he attended a raucous Democratic state convention in Hartford, Conn. Abraham Ribicoff, the former governor, had decided to leave his post in the Kennedy Cabinet to run for the Senate.
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Sinan Salaheddin / Associated Press:
Baghdad explosions bring Iraq toll to 23 — BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of explosions struck commercial areas in Baghdad within hours Saturday, killing at least 17 people and dealing a blow to a huge government operation to secure the capital. — The blasts — seven within five hours …
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John M. Broder / New York Times:
Contradictions Cloud Inquiry Into 24 Iraqi Deaths — What really happened in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005? — On that day, marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including 10 women and children and an elderly man in a wheelchair. But how and why it happened and who ultimately bears responsibility are matters of profound dispute.
Discussion:
Democracy Project, The Real Ugly American.com, Blue Crab Boulevard, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Amygdala, Reuters and PrairiePundit
Eric Schmitt / New York Times:
Pentagon Study Describes Abuse by Units in Iraq — WASHINGTON, June 16 — United States Special Operations troops employed a set of harsh, unauthorized interrogation techniques against detainees in Iraq during a four-month period in early 2004, long after approval for their use was rescinded …
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Media Matters for America:
"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser — Weekly Part 4: where do we go from here? — Three weeks ago, we began what has now turned into a four-part series: … A week later, we elaborated on the notion that the "dominant political force of our time is the media," with a look back at more than a decade …
Jacques Steinberg / New York Times:
Moving Ahead, Rather Throws Sad Look Back — The 74-year-old man with the Mets cap pulled far down on his forehead slid into a booth at a diner on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and ordered a glass of milk without so much as turning a head — so quietly, in fact, that it was hard to believe it was Dan Rather.
Washington Post:
Indictment Rejected For Rep. McKinney — A D.C. grand jury has decided not to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) for scuffling with a U.S. Capitol Police officer this year. — U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein issued a statement yesterday saying the decision followed "an extensive and thorough" …
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Associated Press:
Records: Press aide knew online chat risks — BARTOW, Fla. - In Internet and phone chats with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, a Department of Homeland Security press aide talked about underage sex, boasted about his job and called President Bush a "liar," according to transcripts released by prosecutors.