memeorandum: On Team Bush, Scumbags Become Ambassadors (Bob Geiger)

9:40 PM ET, February 27, 2007

Top Items:

REWRITING HERSTORY: HUFFPO EXPUNGES, EDITS 100S OF COMMENTS AT THE CHENEY HATE FESTIVAL — Over the last few hours, the more than 400 comments appended to the Huffington Post's news item on the attack in Afghanistan on a base being visited by Vice-President Dick Cheney have been expunged from the site.

Discussion: Associated Press, Redstate, TIME: Swampland and Blogs for Bush

Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS: Cheney Targeted in Assassination Attempt

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
A hallmark of idiocy — (updated below - updated again)

Discussion: WILLisms.com, The Impolitic, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Crooks and Liars, Wonkette, Media Matters for America and Macsmind

Michelle Malkin:
Assassination chic, Cheney edition

Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:
Greenwald(s): "We are not the haters. …

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ

Holly Bailey / Newsweek:
A Rough Ride on Air Force Two

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, On Deadline, New York Times, The Strata-Sphere, A Blog For All, DownWithTyranny!, Norwegianity, NO QUARTER, The Democratic Daily, Outside The Beltway, The Heretik, Daniel W. Drezner and Mia Culpa

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Today's Must Read — Two weeks ago, the Bush administration organized an intelligence briefing for journalists in Iraq to demonstrate that Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi insurgents. According to the anonymous briefers, the weapons — particularly explosively formed penetrators or E.F.P.s …

Discussion: The Road to Surfdom, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, Discourse.net, Hullabaloo and New York Times

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:
EFP UPDATE....On Monday the U.S. Army discovered a new cache …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Danger Room

Yochi J. Dreazen / Wall Street Journal: U.S. Find Stokes Fears Of Iraqis' Bomb-Making Ability

New York Times:
U.S. Displays Bomb Parts Said to Be Made in Iran

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Wall Street Plummets After Chinese Stocks Take a Big Hit — Stocks retreated sharply Tuesday after a sell-off in China rattled markets worldwide and data on durable goods orders came in well below expectations. — After reaching record highs on Monday, China's stock markets reversed course drastically …

Discussion: The American Scene, Norwegianity, Matthew Yglesias and ACSBlog

Madlen Read / Associated Press:

Stocks have worst day since 9/11 attacks — NEW YORK - Stocks had their worst day of trading since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Tuesday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 400 points on a worldwide tide of concern that the U.S. and Chinese economies are stumbling and that share prices have become overinflated.

Redstate:

Carl Levin Calls for Attacks On Syria. Admits Al-Qaeda In Iraq & Troops Need to Stay — UPDATE: The video is here. — Get ready for Carl Levin to get shot by Cindy Sheehan or some other angry lefty. I'm not sure what happened to him, but he's making sense right now.

Discussion: The Blotter, QandO, Wizbang, The Political Pit Bull, Outside The Beltway and PoliPundit.com

Scott Helman / Boston Globe:

Document shows Romney's strategies — Plan addresses faith, rivals, shift on issues — Here are some views of Mitt Romney causing concern inside his campaign: His hair looks too perfect, he's not a tough war time leader, and he has earned a reputation as "Slick Dancing Mitt" or "Flip-Flop Mitt."

Daniel Gross / Slate:
The CEO Candidate — HOW MITT ROMNEY'S CORPORATE SUCCESS EXPLAINS …

Discussion: Eunomia

Associated Press:

Gen. Pace: Military capability eroding — WASHINGTON (AP) — Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won't be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new report to Congress.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The News Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, Liberty Street, The Gavel, The American Street and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Payson / Think Progress:
Snow Trumpets U.S. Troop Readiness: 'Unprecedented In Time of Warfare'

Discussion: The Impolitic

Quin Hillyer / American Spectator:

Jeb in 2008? — Don't be surprised if, come November of 2008, voters are choosing between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush for president. — But how can that be? Jeb's not running. — Well, he isn't running now, but the new, front-loaded primary system may, counterintuitively …

Discussion: Redstate, Reason Magazine, Hot Air and Middle Earth Journal

Bob Geiger:

On Team Bush, Scumbags Become Ambassadors — It should be an interesting afternoon in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as hearings begin to consider Sam Fox as George W. Bush's nominee to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. — While the White House lauds Fox's qualifications for the role …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Sam Hananel / bradenton.com: Kerry criticizes Fox at hearing for ambassador post

Associated Press:

Rice: U.S. joining Iraq in inviting Iran, Syria to 'neighbors meeting' — The United States and the Iraqi government are launching a new diplomatic initiative to invite Iran and Syria to a neighbors meeting on stabilizing Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Donklephant and TPMCafe blogs

Chitra Ragavan / US News:

Ashcroft Pizza Party Raises Ethics Eyebrows — A pizza luncheon to be hosted this Wednesday by former Attorney General turned consultant John Ashcroft for some of his old political appointees has raised eyebrows in the Justice Department's ethics office, U.S. News has learned.

Discussion: Citizens Blogging …

Media Matters for America:

Cohen faulted "colleagues" for portraying Gore "as a serial exaggerator" and "pretender" in 2000, ignored his own role — In his February 27 column, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen faulted "some of my colleagues" who "caricatured" former Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign …

Discussion: TalkLeft

The Politico:

Pelosi Falls Short On Election Promises — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is discovering the cold truth about governing with a slim majority: It's much easier to promise behavioral change for Congress than to deliver it. — Pelosi vowed that five-day workweeks would be a hallmark of a harder-working Democratic majority.

Discussion: MyDD, Betsy's Page and The Political Pit Bull

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Yep, it appears that The Politico may indeed have done just that. — On Feb. 16, The Politico turned over its front page to a long hit piece on liberal bloggers by Liebermanite Dan Gerstein. In the piece — titled "Liberal Bloggers Demonstrate Their Political Immaturity, Democrat Says" …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, My Left Nutmeg, The Politico and Taylor Marsh

Los Angeles Times:

Gen Y's ego trip takes a nasty turn — A new report suggests that an overdose of self-esteem in college students could mean a rough road ahead. — No wonder YouTube is so popular. — All the effort to boost children's self-esteem may have backfired and produced a generation of college students …

Discussion: Joanne Jacobs, Sister Toldjah and On Deadline