Top Items:
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
House Democrats' New Strategy: Force Slow End to War — Led by Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and supported by several well-funded anti-war groups, the coalition's goal is to limit or sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather than to openly cut off funding for the war itself.
Discussion:
Right Wing Nut House, Confederate Yankee, The Strata-Sphere, PoliPundit.com, QandO, Chicago Boyz, The Caucus, Bill's Bites, "7.62mm Justice" ™, The Influence Peddler, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Carpetbagger Report, Power and Control, The Huffington Post, Power Line, First Read and Washington Post
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Bryan / Hot Air:
Murtha and the Democrats: A new low — Disgusting. … If they do what they're apparently planning to do, "slow bleed" will be a very apt description. Those doing the bleeding, slowly, will be US troops. … This is the strategy of a corrupt, dishonorable man. Yes, I realize I'm talking about a former Marine.
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Grace Time is Over — It's pretty obvious at this point that the Democratic leadership isn't serious about ending the war in Iraq. They won't defund the war, and keep repeating the meme that cutting off funding for the war means cutting off funding for the troops. — It's time for the blogs to stop giving them a pass.
White House:
Press Conference by the President — THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming in on an icy day. I have just finished a conversation with General David Petraeus. He gave me his first briefing from Iraq. He talked about the Baghdad security plan. It's the plan that I described to the nation last January …
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Mark Memmott / On Deadline:
Bush: 'Preposterous' to suggest intelligence on Iran is wrong — President Bush just held a press conference at the White House. Some highlights: — 11:58 a.m. ET. Sitting down with Iran wouldn't work: The last question was why — if the U.S. could negotiate with the former Soviet Union …
Discussion:
White House, The Raw Story, NewsHog, Michelle Malkin, The Impolitic, Pajamas Media and CorrenteWire
Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
Bolton hits agreement as 'bad signal' to Iran
Bolton hits agreement as 'bad signal' to Iran
Discussion:
New York Times
Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Bush: Who Cares if Iran Ordered EFP Attacks? — The Iran innuendo continues. In his press conference today, President Bush said that the U.S. knows "with certainty" that the EFPs coming in from Iran for attacks on U.S. forces originate with the Qods Forces — a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Juan / Informed Comment:
On the Mystery of Muqtada al-Sadr's Disappearance — US government sources are saying that nationalist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fled to neighboring Iran three weeks ago. Sadrist aides denied the report. — This on a day when two major bombings left 66 persons wounded or dead in the capital …
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Betsy Rothstein / The Hill:
Rep. Ellison calls the cops to snuff Tancredo's cigar — Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes it is his right as a Muslim to be sworn into Congress with the Quran. But apparently, the freshman lawmaker doesn't believe it's Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-Colo.) right to smoke a cigar in his congressional office.
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, TPMCafe blogs, Hot Air, Blue Crab Boulevard, Redstate, "7.62mm Justice" ™ and theneweditor.com
Baltimore Sun:
America's view of Republicans crumbles in Iraq — According to the latest Gallup survey, Republican self-identification has declined nationally and in almost every American state. Why? The short answer is that President Bush's war of choice in Iraq has destroyed the partisan brand Republicans spent the past four decades building.
Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:
Why Al Gore Won't Let the Rumors Die — It's too much to say that Al Gore has decided to run for President in 2008. — But it does seem that he wants to preserve the option. — Certainly, the recent buzz about a possible Gore campaign in 2008 doesn't seem to be spontaneously generated.
Discussion:
Liberal Values
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Neoconservatives hate liberty as much as they love war — Frank Gaffney, one of the country's most influential and well-connected neoconservatives, has a column in today's Washington Times in which he argues that the debate taking place in Congress over the war in Iraq constitutes treason.
driftglass:
I'm Spartacus. — Shakespeare's Sister has announced that she is bowing out of the Edwards campaign. — Needless to say this is a very sad and sobering development. — And needless to say that she is doing it with orders of magnitude more grace and élan than either …
Discussion:
Lean Left, QandO, Balloon Juice, The Mahablog, Althouse, The Navel of the Internet, PSoTD, Patterico's Pontifications and Shakespeare's Sister
Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:
Military grants more waivers to recruits — WASHINGTON - The Army and Marine Corps are letting in more recruits with criminal records, including some with felony convictions, reflecting the increased pressure of five years of war and its mounting casualties.
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
Candidates Find A New Stump In the Blogosphere — Nearly a year before the first caucuses and primaries take place, the 2008 presidential campaign advertising war is under way online. — Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular …
Deseret News:
6 minutes of horror … In just six minutes, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic left a tragic path of destruction that forever changed the lives of dozens of people. — "His intent was to shoot as many people as he possibly could," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank.
Discussion:
Classical Values, BizzyBlog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Jihad Watch and Little Green Footballs
Anne Applebaum / Telegraph:
War with Iran is in no one's interests — 'War in Iraq, war in Iran? " That's a headline I saw in Britain earlier this week. In Washington, the headlines read more like "Tentative nuclear deal reached with North Korea" and "Obama must show more than potential", but never mind …
New York Times:
House Begins Full Debate on the Iraq War — The House opened a full-throated debate on Tuesday over the Iraq war as lawmakers began considering a resolution to denounce President Bush's plan to add troops. Democratic leaders said the debate was the first step in using Congressional authority to intervene in the conflict.