memeorandum: We had our late afternoon editorial meeting here at TPM this afternoon. (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

4:20 AM ET, February 6, 2007

Top Items:

Iraq Debate Grips Senate — Democrats Struggle to Bring Resolution on Troop Levels to Vote — Senate Democrats, facing a filibuster of a long-awaited debate on President Bush's Iraq policy, were scrambling today to bring a resolution of opposition to the Senate floor.

Discussion: Fox News, Hot Air, AMERICAblog, Discourse.net, Obsidian Wings, Flopping Aces, The Left Coaster, The Reaction, democracyarsenal.org, Liberal Values, PoliBlog (TM), Associated Press and DownWithTyranny!

David Espo / Associated Press:

Republicans block Senate debate on Iraq — WASHINGTON - Republicans blocked a full-fledged Senate debate over Iraq on Monday, but Democrats vowed they would eventually find a way to force President Bush to change course in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. troops.

Discussion: workingforchange.com …, BLACKFIVE, BobGeiger.com, The Strata-Sphere and Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

G.O.P. Senators Block Debate on Iraq Policy — Republicans on Monday blocked Senate debate on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq, leaving in doubt whether the Senate would render a judgment on what lawmakers of both parties described as the paramount issue of the day.

Discussion: The RBC and The Anonymous Liberal

New York Times:

Republican Senators Block Debate on Iraq Resolution — Republicans late this afternoon blocked a potentially momentous Senate debate, at least for now, on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq. — Forty-nine senators, almost all Democrats …

Discussion: The Heretik, The Democratic Daily, The Political Pit Bull and Macsmind

Michael Roston / The Raw Story:
Senate Republicans successfully block debate on Iraq resolution

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
GOP Blocks Cloture On Surge Resolution

Discussion: Daily Kos, A Second Hand Conjecture, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Right's Field and The News Blog

DownWithTyranny!:
FEINGOLD ON FIRE AFTER REPUBLICANS VOTE TO BLOCK IRAQ DEBATE

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Agonist

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: We had our late afternoon editorial meeting here at TPM this afternoon.

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

HILLARY AND RUDY....I'm with Atrios on this: I don't think it's surprising at all that Hillary Clinton trounced Rudy Giuliani in a recent poll in New York state. It's sort of the flipside of my earlier argument about Hillary being stronger than many people think.

Discussion: Whiskey Fire, The Heretik, All Spin Zone and The Reaction

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

Giuliani Files 'Statement of Candidacy' — WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor whose popularity soared after his response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, moved closer to a full-fledged campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Anonymous Liberal, The American Mind, New York Times, Dean's World, Reason Magazine and Confederate Yankee

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press: Giuliani nearing full-fledged candidacy

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Rudy's In, Mostly — Rudy Giuliani ended most of the speculation …

Discussion: Lonewacko

Henry Pierson Curtis / Orlando Sentinel:

Space shuttle astronaut arrested at OIA on attempted kidnapping, battery charges — A NASA astronaut is charged with attacking her rival for another astronaut's attention early Monday at Orlando International Airport, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. — Lisa Marie Nowak drove from Texas …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com, The Volokh Conspiracy and The Coalition of the Swilling

Jeffrey Goldberg / New Yorker:

THE LORAX — Hillary Rodham Clinton, like many capable politicians, has the ability to arrange her face in such a way as to convey nothing but placidity and benign pity when confronted by a hostile or unpleasant comment. On occasion, though, when her benevolence or, worse, her honor is questioned …

Discussion: Unclaimed Territory, TalkLeft and The Reaction

Digby / Hullabaloo:

"Feels Good!" — We have talked a lot lately about Dick Cheney's delusional behavior and his childlike strategic foreign policy vision. It seems as if even the dunderhead Bush seems less threatening and freakishly out to lunch than Cheney. In fact, it's hard to find any Republicans wearing the fogged-up …

John / AMERICAblog:

Snickers Superbowl Web site promotes violence against gays and lesbians. Bears & Colts players react in disgust, on camera, to gays. — UPDATE: Snickers pulled the Web site containing the homophobic ads and commentary. Still no word from Snickers about the entire affair.

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, Blinq, DownWithTyranny!, This Modern World and Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Atrios / Eschaton:

Happy Colin Powell Day — Has it really been 4 years already? Time flies. — Let's remember. William Safire: … Richard Cohen: … George Will: … Jim Hoagland: … Washington Post editorial board: … Atrios:

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla and Opinion L.A.

Lawyers, Guns and Money:
Good Times — Hey, man . . . remember that time that Secretary …

Discussion: The Heretik and Pen-Elayne on the Web

Nico / Think Progress:

FACT CHECK: Washington Times Publishes False Report On Pelosi's Use Of Military Aircraft — On February 1, the Washington Times published a story titled "Speaker pursues military flights," which claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had been "pressing the Bush administration …

Discussion: Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Outside The Beltway, NewsBusters.org, David Phinney and AMERICAblog

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Diane Sawyer asks Syrian fascist what's on his iPod — From this morning's GMA. Not quite as flirtatious as Wallace's pattycake session with Ahmadinejad, but at least he sprung a few tough questions about Hezbollah and the Holocaust. Sawyer's most probing moment was asking …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, The Political Pit Bull and Riehl World View

ABCNEWS: Exclusive: Syrian President Says He Can Help Broker Peace If U.S. Will Talk

Timothy Ball / Canada Free Press:

Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? — Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist. And I am not the only one trying to make people open up their eyes and see the truth. But few listen, despite the fact that I was the first Canadian Ph.D. in Climatology and I have an extensive background …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Huffington Post, QandO, GINA COBB, Don Surber, NewsBusters.org, Riehl World View, The Jawa Report, Opinion Journal and Pajamas Media

George F. Will / Newsweek:
Inconvenient Kyoto Truths

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET, contentions, Jay Currie, Blue Crab Boulevard and One Hand Clapping

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:

Appointment in Mesopotamia — IRAQ'S PROBLEMS EXISTED LONG BEFORE 2003. — Replying to Fareed Zakaria's observation in Newsweek, about Iraq and the Iraqis—that "We did not give them a republic. We gave them a civil war." —Charles Krauthammer, in our common sister paper the Washington Post, expressed a fine contempt:

Discussion: Daily Kos

CNN:

U.S. military: Iraqi lawmaker is U.S. Embassy bomber … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to U.S. military intelligence.

Discussion: Demagogue and KnoxViews