memeorandum: It's times like these you've just got to miss that dear lady Molly Ivins. (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

4:55 PM ET, February 16, 2007

Top Items:

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, Power Line, Jules Crittenden and Macsmind

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Broder: George Bush Has Regained His Political Footing

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Don Surber, Washington Post, Salon, At-Largely, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister, Daily Kos, Outside The Beltway, NO QUARTER, Right Wing Nut House, Instapundit.com, Jules Crittenden and Wizbang

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:
Bill opposing troop surge likely to pass

Discussion: TAPPED

David Espo / Associated Press:
Pelosi: Bush Lacks Power to Invade Iran

Discussion: All Things Beautiful, Macsmind and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

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: The Moderate Voice, Ace of Spades HQ, Matthew Yglesias, Dick Polman's American Debate, The Carpetbagger Report, MyDD, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Political Pit Bull, Cliff Schecter, Blue Crab Boulevard, Wonkette, TAPPED and Middle Earth Journal

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 and The Next Hurrah

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

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
It's times like these you've just got to miss that dear lady Molly Ivins.

Discussion: Burnt Orange Report, Right Wing Nut House and Wonkette

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: Winds of Change.NET

Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:

January Weather Hottest by Far — WASHINGTON (AP) - It may be cold comfort during a frigid February, but last month was by far the hottest January ever. — The broken record was fueled by a waning El Nino and a gradually warming world, according to U.S. scientists who reported the data Thursday.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and The Democratic Daily

David Bromwich / eurekalert.org:
Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions

Discussion: Andrew Olmsted, Flopping Aces, Stubborn Facts, The Strata-Sphere, Brutally Honest and small dead animals

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.

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, theneweditor.com and Counterterrorism Blog

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

Discussion: The Corner and Needlenose

Jonathan Singer / MyDD:

Potential Support for McCain and Giuliani Plummets — Late last month, I began to track a trend within the electorate: The two supposed frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination — John McCain and Rudy Giuliani — were both noticeably slipping among Americans, seriously calling into question their electability.

Discussion: MSNBC and The Huffington Post

David All / techPresident:
John McCain launches new website

Discussion: Washington Wire, Townhall.com and Redstate

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

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

John / AMERICAblog:

University of Illinois drops its mascot, I'm a bit perturbed — fark it! UPDATE: It seems some of our readers disagree with me. Feel free to join the heated discussion in our comments section here. — I'm sorry, I never saw the problem. Illinois, which I attended, didn't have an indian mascot the way you might think.

Discussion: Associated Press, Wampum and Right Wing Nut House

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: In the Bullpen

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

James K. Galbraith / The Nation:

What Kind of Economy? — This is the first in a series of essays outlining a new progressive economic policy. The series, we hope, will offer an alternative to the neoliberal thinking that has dominated economic policy within the Democratic Party leadership over the past decade.

Discussion: Political Animal and Matthew Yglesias

Nico / Think Progress:

The 'Get 'er Done' defense of escalation. — During today's Iraq debate, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) explained her support for sending tens of thousands of U.S. forces to Iraq by quoting that "wonderful saying" — "Get 'er done."

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report