memeorandum: Bush Poll Ratings Before Speech Fall to Nixon's Level (Update2) (Nadine Elsibai/Bloomberg)

6:30 PM ET, January 23, 2007

Top Items:

Prosecutor: Libby 'wiped out' Cheney memo — Defense in CIA leak trial counters that White House tried to set up Libby — WASHINGTON - Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald used his opening statement in the CIA leak trial Tuesday to allege that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff lied …

Discussion: Washington Post, Attytood, Crooks and Liars, DownWithTyranny!, The Washington Note, Media Blog, ACSBlog, NO QUARTER, Outside The Beltway, Tennessee Guerilla Women and Democratic Underground

Think Progress:

BREAKING: Libby Destroyed Evidence Prior To Testifying, Cheney 'Deeply Involved' — Under oath, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff Scooter Libby told a grand jury that he first learned that Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent from conversations with the media.

Discussion: Hardblogger, The Carpetbagger Report, Political Animal, Prairie Weather and The Mahablog

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Holy Moly — Norah O'Donnell is asking Andy Card and Leon Panetta if the president is going to have to ask Dick Cheney to resign as a result of what's being alleged at the Libby Trial. (They both punted.) — If that's the beltway chatter, look for the Republican noise machine to go into high gear.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Democrats.com, The Impolitic, Political Animal, Wonkette, Daily Kos and Shakespeare's Sister

Emptywheel / Firedoglake:

Libby Liveblog: Well's Opening Statement, Part One — Wells up. — As you learned a few days ago, my name is Ted Wells. And I speak for Scooter Libby. Scooter Libby is innocent. Totally innocent. — He is an innocent man and he has been wrongly and unfairly accused.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Booman Tribune

Emptywheel / Firedoglake:

Libby Liveblog: Fitzgerald's Opening Statement — Here goes Fitzgerald... It will be utterly fascinating to see how Fitzgerald operates. I'm most interested, though, in how Fitzgerald will describe the obstruction charge and Libby's motive. What will Fitzgerald say Libby was obstructing, and why?

Emptywheel / Firedoglake:

Libby Liveblog: Wells' Opening Statement, Part Two — Picking up after lunch. — To remind you of housekeeping. This is not a transcript. It is as close as I can get. — And I'll timestamp my updates. I'll try to update every 15 minutes. So don't overtax the servers by trying to update every two minutes.

Discussion: TAPPED, JustOneMinute and TalkLeft

Washington Post:

Defense Attorney Paints Libby as Scapegoat — I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was "put through the meat grinder" by the White House shortly after the Iraq war began, scapegoated to cloak the leak of a CIA officer's identity to the media by presidential adviser Karl Rove, Libby's lawyer contended today as Libby's perjury trial began.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press: Lawyers Paint Libby As Sacrificial Lamb

Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Libby a Scapegoat, His Lawyer Tells Jurors

Discussion: whatever already!, On Deadline and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Emptywheel / Firedoglake: Libby Liveblog: Other Issues

Digby / Hullabaloo:
Boot Scooter Boogie

Discussion: CorrenteWire

Ed Morrissey / Examiner:

Richardson could be '08's most dangerous candidate — WASHINGTON - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's entry into the 2008 presidential sweepstakes Sunday garnered little notice, overshadowed as it was by the announcement of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., the day before.

Discussion: TIME, Captain's Quarters and Reason Magazine

Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
As Kerry ponders, Democrats crowd in

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Liberal Values, The Caucus, New York Times, CNN Political Ticker and Washington Post

John Byrne / The Raw Story:
Liberal talk show host trashes Clinton's staff

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Taylor Marsh

Michael J. Totten:

Hezbollah Riots in Lebanon (Continuously Updated) — While I was in Lebanon gathering the material I've been publishing, Hezbollah kept threatening to strangle the country by seizing major roads, including the one that leads to the airport. I was worried I might get stuck there, but I didn't.

Discussion: From Beirut to the Beltway, Blogs of War, A Blog For All, Blacksmiths of Lebanon and Blue Crab Boulevard

Abu Kais / From Beirut to the Beltway:

Hizbullah, Aoun unleash terror on Lebanon — continuous updates — Hundreds of masked men are setting fire to tires and dumpsters after filling them with fuel in Beirut and other areas. Eyewitnesses told me that they saw bulldozers assisting the protestors by shoveling dirt and dumping it on some of the roads.

Discussion: Blacksmiths of Lebanon, snapped shot and Publius Pundit

PJM / Pajamas Media:

The State of the Union is a Disaster: — The Speech George Bush Should Make Tuesday Night — Don't bother standing up or clapping, any of you. I already know who won the election, and I know how you feel. — I come before you tonight not to make amends, not to make it good, curry any favor or find any middle ground.

Discussion: Power Line, The Sundries Shack, NewsHog, Jules Crittenden, The Political Pit Bull, The Democratic Daily, Daily Pundit, Dr. Sanity, Blinq, Blogs of War, Ed Driscoll.com, The Glittering Eye, BLACKFIVE, Centerfield and Transterrestrial Musings

New York Times:
Bush, at Low Point in Polls, Will Push Domestic Agenda

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Washington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog, The Nation, Gun Toting Liberal ™, Captain's Quarters, PoliBlog (TM), Oliver Willis, Jules Crittenden and Kiko's House

Jay Carney / Swampland:

Re: The Clinton Playbook — Amazingly, some Swampland readers seem to think my earlier post about President Bush's State of the Union address was too sympathetic to Bush, which proves nothing but that the left is as full of unthinking Ditto-heads as Limbaugh-land.

Discussion: Personal Democracy Forum blogs and Seeing the Forest

Atrios / Eschaton:
Swampland — In this edition, Jay Carney demonstrates …

Discussion: Morning Call, Swampland and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

Petraeus Confident in New Iraq Strategy — Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, President Bush's nominee to become the new top commander in Iraq, painted a grim picture today of the military challenge ahead in what both congressional Democrats and Republicans described as the "last chance" to stabilize the nation.

Discussion: New York Times and Blue Crab Boulevard

New York Times:
General Petraeus's Opening Statement

Discussion: Washington Post, INTEL DUMP and The Moderate Voice

Nadine Elsibai / Bloomberg:

Bush Poll Ratings Before Speech Fall to Nixon's Level (Update2) — Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush's approval ratings are now the lowest for any president the day before a State of the Union speech since Richard Nixon in 1974, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Texas Rainmaker, Sadly, No!, All Spin Zone and TalkLeft

Los Angeles Times:

Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link — U.S. warnings of advanced weaponry crossing the border are overstated, critics say. — BAQUBAH, IRAQ — If there is anywhere Iran could easily stir up trouble in Iraq, it would be in Diyala, a rugged province along the border between the two nations.

Discussion: Think Progress, Democrats.com, TAPPED and The American Street

Jonathan Martin / politico.com:

Hastert To Endorse Romney — Sources inside former Gov. Mitt Romney's camp tell The Politico that they've picked up yet another major Washington endorsement: former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The Illinoisan is set to publicly endorse Romney today. — Romney has cultivated …

Discussion: Power Line, Redstate and Townhall.com Blog's …

Liz Cheney / Washington Post:

Retreat Isn't an Option — Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, The Political Pit Bull, The Reaction, Think Progress, The American Street, PoliPundit.com, Matthew Yglesias, Gateway Pundit, Don Surber, Political Animal and Armchair Generalist

Marc Santora / New York Times:

In the Vortex of Baghdad, Staying Put This Time — Two blocks from the new American outpost in Ghazaliya, one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods, a fight was raging. Shiites were battling Sunnis, the latest skirmish in a sectarian war that has left this area a wasteland.

Discussion: Hot Air, IRAQ THE MODEL, Daily Kos and The News Blog

Josephine Hearn / politico.com:

Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed — Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome. — "I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Cohen …

Discussion: La Shawn Barber's Corner, Redstate, Right Wing News, Texas Rainmaker, Hot Air and digg

Media Matters for America:

Wash. Post reporter baselessly suggested Edwards broke campaign finance law — In a January 23 online discussion, Washington Post reporter John Solomon defended his controversial article about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' recent sale of his house by suggesting …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Horses Mouth and The Carpetbagger Report

Confederate Yankee:

CRACKDOWN: Iraqi PM Locks Down Official Media Access to Key Government Ministries — An anonymous source from within Baghdad's Green Zone has provided me with a copy of a document issued from the office of Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri Al-Malki, ordering the shutdown of contacts with the world press on …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air and The Jawa Report