memeorandum: President Bush Discusses Progress in Afghanistan, Global War on Terror (White House)

7:05 PM ET, February 16, 2007

Top Items:

Dan Gerstein / The Politico:

Liberal Bloggers Demonstrate Their Political Immaturity, Democrat Says — If the liberal blogs want to understand why so few people outside their narrow echo chamber take them seriously, and what it will take to gain the broader credibility they crave, they should look no further than their handling …

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, The Agonist, The Moderate Voice, Lawyers, Guns and Money, MyDD, Dick Polman's American Debate, The Carpetbagger Report, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels, The Political Pit Bull, Matthew Yglesias, Cliff Schecter, Blue Crab Boulevard, Middle Earth Journal, Wonkette, TAPPED and Decision '08

Kim Gamel / Associated Press:

Civilian deaths in Iraq drop overnight — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The number of Iraqi civilians killed in Baghdad's sectarian violence fell drastically overnight, an Iraqi military official said Friday, crediting the joint U.S.-Iraqi security operation that began in force just days ago.

Discussion: The Bullwinkle Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard and theneweditor.com

Damien Cave / New York Times:
Dispute Over Iraqi Cleric, Said to Have Gone to Iran

Discussion: The Corner and Needlenose

Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette:
THE QUOTE "SURGE" — A quick clip from MG Caldwell's Baghdad briefing yesterday:

Discussion: Multi-National Force, INDCJournal and Michelle Malkin

Jeremy Redmon / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Anti-evolution memo stirs controversy — The Anti-Defamation League is calling on state Rep. Ben Bridges to apologize for a memo distributed under his name that says the teaching of evolution should be banned in public schools because it is a religious deception stemming from an ancient Jewish sect.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, The Next Hurrah, Liberal Values and Polimom Says

Dallas Morning News:

Chisum contrite over memo — Legislature: Group says evolution handout contains anti-Semitic material — AUSTIN - House Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum said Wednesday that he's "willing to apologize" for giving colleagues a document that contains what the Anti-Defamation League called "outrageous anti-Semitic material."

Discussion: Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Off the Kuff and Pharyngula

victorycaucus.com:

Troop Support — Spirit of America is helping deploy The Snake Eater, a fingerprinting and information system to be used by the Iraqi Army to identify and track insurgents and terrorists. They need your help to fund the project . — Soldier's Angels wants your help to send Valentines to the troops !

Discussion: Power Line, Michelle Malkin and NewsHog

The Blotter:

Al Qaeda Attack Video Appears to Be Staged — Brian Ross and Hoda Osman Report: — An al Qaeda-produced video claiming to show how U.S. and Afghan forces were driven out of a heavily defended base in the last few weeks appears to be a phony. — U.S. and NATO military officials have studied …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Hot Air and In the Bullpen

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

A Hard Right Punch — Michelle Malkin's Conservative Fight Has Others Coming Out Swinging — Michelle Malkin has seen her head electronically grafted onto a photo of a bikini-clad body. — She had to cancel a Berkeley book signing in the face of 200 shouting protesters. — YouTube banned one of her videos.

New York Times:

Viewers Fast-Forwarding Past Ads? Not Always — People with digital video recorders like TiVo never watch commercials, right? — Add that to the list of urban — and suburban — myths. — It turns out that a lot of people with digital video recorders are not fast-forwarding and time-shifting as much as advertisers feared.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM), CBS News and SayUncle

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Associated Press:

Dems Risk Image Woes Over Iraq War Moves — WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats face a host of risks as they move toward more substantive steps to tie President Bush's hands with funding restrictions on the Iraq war. — Leaders are wary of allowing the more intense anti-war activists define the party's image.

Discussion: Riehl World View, Taylor Marsh, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels, Right Wing Nut House, Power Line, Jules Crittenden and Macsmind

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:

Glenn Greenwald Exposes Frank Gaffney — (graphic via 'Zach Trenholm) On Alan Colmes' radio show last night, Glenn Greenwald debated Frank Gaffney on his disgraceful article in The Washington Times wherein he argues — after opening with with a widely-discredited & fabricated quote — that dissent during war time is treasonous.

Discussion: Nitpicker, Salon and INSTAPUTZ

James Kirchick / Examiner:

Who is really stifling honest debate about the Middle East? — WASHINGTON - Aside from the Iraq war — which has only consumed our attention for the past four years — is there an international issue that inspires more debate than the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Ezra Klein and Unfogged

White House:

President Bush Discusses Progress in Afghanistan, Global War on Terror — Washington, D.C. — Fact Sheet: Increasing Support to Help the People of Afghanistan Succeed — In Focus: Afghanistan — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. (Laughter.) That's got kind of a nice ring to it.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, FRAMESHOP and First Draft

The Emory Wheel:

What's Jimmy Carter Afraid Of? — By: 11 Emory Professors — Once again, Jimmy Carter has shrunk from debate. Despite having written a book whose purpose he claims was to promote dialogue and discussion, he has consistently dodged appearing with anyone who could challenge …

Discussion: Power Line

Thomas Sowell / Real Clear Politics:

Global Hot Air From the Media — If you take the mainstream media seriously, you might think that every important scientist believes that "global warming" poses a great threat, and that we need to make drastic changes in the way we live, in order to avoid catastrophes to the environment, to various species, and to ourselves.

Discussion: eurekalert.org and Winds of Change.NET

Political Radar:

Romney explains '92 vote for Tsongas — ABC News' Jonathan Greenberger Reports: Republican presidential candididate Mitt Romney offered a new explanation today for why he supported a Democrat in 1992. — That year, Romney, then a registered independent, voted for former Sen. Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic presidential primary.