Top Items:
Robert Kagan / Washington Post:
More Leaks, Please — Questioning the Iraq Intelligence Report — It's too bad we won't get to see the full National Intelligence Estimate on "Trends in Global Terrorism" selectively leaked to The Post and the New York Times last week. The Times headline read "Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat."
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MSNBC:
President says NIE leak was political, denies Iraq has worsened terrorism — WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday announced that he will declassify parts of the National Intelligence Estimate, which reportedly concluded that the war with Iraq has worsened terrorism.
Discussion:
TAPPED
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
No Silent Majority for Bush — What could prove to be the most important factor in the 2006 elections is overlooked because it is unseen: The Republicans cannot try to curry favor with a "silent majority" that favors the Iraq war because a majority of Americans, both vocal and quiet, have come to see the war as a mistake.
Washington Post:
Democrats Focus on Terrorism Report in Attacks on Bush — Conclusion of Rising Extremism Since Iraq Invasion Is Used to Counter Assertion That the World Is Safer — Democratic lawmakers yesterday seized on elements of a new classified intelligence assessment as validation …
Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Bush keeps his war anguish hidden — In private meetings with families, he expresses his sorrow for losses — President Bush hugs Anita Kukkola, the mother of U.S. Army Pfc. Jason Kukkola, left, during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in October 2005.
In From the Cold:
More of What You Won't Read in the NYT — Yesterday, we noted that the MSM (along with their fellow travelers in the intel community), had apparently "cherry-picked" information from a recent National Intelligence Estimate, making their case that the Bush Administration's War on Terror had actually made the problem worse.
Ian Bishop / New York Post:
RICE BOILS OVER AT BUBBA — RIPS 'FLATLY FALSE' CLAIM ON BUSH'S BID — TO GET BIN LADEN — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday accused Bill Clinton of making "flatly false" claims that the Bush administration didn't lift a finger to stop terrorism before the 9/11 attacks.
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Keith Olbermann / MSNBC:
A textbook definition of cowardice
A textbook definition of cowardice
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Hot Air, Brilliant at Breakfast, Pen-Elayne on the Web, Inside Cable News, QandO, Right Wing Nut House, Townhall.com Blog's …, Olbermann Watch, News Hounds, Ankle Biting Pundits, DownWithTyranny!, The Rude Pundit, Done With Mirrors, NewsBusters.org, Liberal Values, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Mahablog
R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
Detainee Measure to Have Fewer Restrictions — White House Reaches Accord With Lawmakers — Republican lawmakers and the White House agreed over the weekend to alter new legislation on military commissions to allow the United States to detain and try a wider range of foreign nationals …
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Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Wiretap Bill Moves Closer to Passage — After Changes, Senate Holdouts Pledge Support — Last-minute changes to legislation authorizing the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program have won the support of three balking Senate Republicans, improving the chances …
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
For Democrats, Welcome Words on Rumsfeld — if Not the War — Maj. Gen. John Batiste, the former commander of the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, had complained loudly about the handling of the Iraq war since he retired 11 months ago — but no one invited him to present his views to Congress.
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Bull Moose, Think Progress, Blue Crab Boulevard, democrats.senate.gov and Macsmind
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Europe Panel Faults Sifting of Bank Data — A European Union panel has serious doubts about the legality of a Bush administration program that monitors international financial transactions, the group's leader said Monday, and plans to recommend tighter controls to prevent privacy abuses.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
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Ryan Lizza / The New Republic:
Pond Scum — In the wake of allegations that Virginia Senator George Allen repeatedly used the word "nigger" as a college student at the University of Virginia in the 1970s, the senator today issued a blanket denial that he has ever uttered the word. "I don't remember ever using that word …
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BBC:
US loses top competitiveness spot — The US has lost its status as the world's most competitive economy, according to the World Economic Forum. — The US now ranks only sixth in the body's league table of global competitiveness, behind Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Singapore.
Seth Stevenson / Slate:
This Is Your Ass on Drugs — THE NEW CASE AGAINST POT? IT MAKES YOU LAZY. … (Click here to see the spot.) — In the past two decades, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America have made countless TV ads about the evils of illicit drugs.
Carla Baranauckas / New York Times:
A Dog's Life, Upgraded — ON a sunny day in August, a half-dozen large dogs — mostly Labrador retrievers — bounded in and out of the swimming pool here at Top Dog Country Club. Others lounged on the artificial-turf lawn, or looked on with envy and vocal protests from "time out" pens on the edge of the play yard.
epw.senate.gov:
"Hot & Cold Media Spin: A Challenge To Journalists Who Cover Global Warming" — HOT & COLD MEDIA SPIN CYCLE: A CHALLENGE TO JOURNALISTS WHO COVER GLOBAL WARMING — SENATOR JAMES INHOFE CHAIRMAN, SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE — Contact: Marc Morano (marc_morano@epw.senate.gov) …
Laura Sessions Stepp / Washington Post:
Syndicate Says 'Boondocks' May Not Return — Cartoonist Hasn't Answered Pleas to Resume Comic Strip — It's over for "The Boondocks" comic strip, at least for now. After six years — a remarkably short run for a strip that found its way into 300-plus newspapers, including The Washington Post …
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Bloggers will join Bush in bill-signing ceremony — President Bush has invited bloggers to join him today as he signs into law a bill creating a database of federal spending — a recognition of their role in forcing the bill through Congress over the objections of senior senators and an indication …
NY Daily News:
Fox News' war zone is the D.C. bureau — Marital sniping may have led to the departure of Brit Hume's wife, Kim, from Fox News last week. — Kim Hume's imminent exit as Fox's D.C. bureau chief was announced Thursday. The buzz out of Washington is that she and the anchorman had been tattletaling …
Discussion:
PSoTD
Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
BIG NEWS: John Bolton Confirmation Battle Really, Really Dead — The last pre-election loophole through which John Bolton's confirmation might have snuck through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was at 2:15 this afternoon at a previously called "business meeting" of the Committee.
Discussion:
Booman Tribune