memeorandum: Press Briefing by Dan Bartlett, Counselor to the President (White House)

1:16 PM ET, March 14, 2007

Top Items:

'Mistakes' Made on Prosecutors, Gonzales Says — Under criticism from lawmakers of both parties for the dismissals of federal prosecutors, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales insisted Tuesday that he would not resign but said, "I acknowledge that mistakes were made here."

Discussion: The Swamp, Brilliant at Breakfast, Bench Conference, Angry Bear, The BLT, Is That Legal?, Balloon Juice, The Carpetbagger Report, Wonkette, THE CUNNING REALIST, PoliBlog (TM), Washington Post and If I Ran the Zoo

Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:

WHY HAVEN'T WE WRITTEN ABOUT THE US ATTORNEYS' STORY?: In an unrelated comment thread, anonymous commenter "CrazyTrain" writes: … First, I would like to clear up something: Of course we are all political hacks! Our secret trick is that we alternate which side to spin …

Discussion: QandO, PrawfsBlawg, Outside The Beltway and JustOneMinute

Real Cities:

Current situation is distinct from Clinton firings of U.S. attorneys — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration and its defenders like to point out that President Bush isn't the first president to fire U.S. attorneys and replace them with loyalists. — While that's true, the current case is different.

Discussion: Macsmind, The Carpetbagger Report and Donklephant

Opinion Journal:

The Hubbell Standard — Hillary Clinton knows all about sacking U.S. Attorneys. — Congressional Democrats are in full cry over the news this week that the Administration's decision to fire eight U.S. Attorneys originated from—gasp—the White House. Senator Hillary Clinton joined the fun yesterday …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Gates of Vienna and Macsmind

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

The Grand Elusion — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced the cameras for all of nine minutes yesterday, but he managed to contradict himself at least four times as he fought off calls to resign over the firing of U.S. attorneys. — "Mistakes were made," he said in fluent scandalese, but "I think it was the right decision."

Discussion: Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, The Heretik, The Gun Toting Liberal ™, Crooks and Liars, The Democratic Daily, Outside The Beltway, CorrenteWire, Donklephant and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

Gonzales:'Mistakes Were Made' — But Attorney Genera Defends Firings ofEight U.S. Attorneys — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales took responsibility yesterday for "mistakes" related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year but rejected calls for his resignation from Democrats who accuse him of misleading Congress.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Law Blog and Prairie Weather

White House:

Press Briefing by Dan Bartlett, Counselor to the President — MR. BARTLETT: Good afternoon, everyone. I'll start with a few brief comments, before I take your questions. — The two Presidents are concluding their lunch pretty much as we speak, in which they — is on the heels …

Discussion: Firedoglake, First Draft and Extreme Mortman

Editor and Publisher:

Editorial Pages Call for Axing Attorney General — NEW YORK The New York Times got the editorial ball rolling on Monday, calling for the firing of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales due largely, if not completely, to the burgeoning scandal involving the forced departure of eight U.S. attorneys.

Discussion: Redstate and Hullabaloo

ABCNEWS:

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary Clinton Calls for Gonzales' Resignation — Senator Tells ABC News 'Buck Should Stop Somewhere' Over Issue of Fired Attorneys — In an exclusive interview to air Wednesday morning, March 14, on "Good Morning America," Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., the front-runner …

Discussion: Associated Press, Scared Monkeys, NewsBusters.org, Macsmind, Los Angeles Times, The Caucus, TIME, Taylor Marsh, Shakespeare's Sister, The Anonymous Liberal, Hang Right Politics, Donklephant, Sister Toldjah, TalkLeft, Abovethelaw.com, On Deadline, Gateway Pundit and Seattle Times

New York Times:

Politics, Pure and Cynical — We wish we'd been surprised to learn that the White House was deeply involved in the politically motivated firing of eight United States attorneys, but the news had the unmistakable whiff of inevitability. This disaster is just part of the Bush administration's sordid history …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Los Angeles Times, The Mahablog, The Carpetbagger Report, Middle Earth Journal, Pacific Views and TalkLeft

Bloomberg:
Gonzales Has Few Republican Defenders on Prosecutors (Update1)

Discussion: Right Wing News and TalkLeft

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: The Trap That Gonzales Fell Into

New York Times:
'Loyalty' to Bush and Gonzales Was Factor in Prosecutors' Firings, E-Mail Shows

Discussion: Real Cities, The Huffington Post, CNN Political Ticker, DownWithTyranny!, MyDD, Democratic Underground, Shakespeare's Sister, Central Sanity, Liberal Values and All Spin Zone

Washington Wire:
Gonzales: It's Up to President Bush

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister

CNN: Fired attorneys say apologies are in order

Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:
L.A. Times Tries to Make a Mountain Out of the Molehill of E-Mails …

Discussion: abqtrib.com, Obsidian Wings, Washington Post, Right Wing Nut House, Shakespeare's Sister, Confederate Yankee, PoliBlog (TM) and Hang Right Politics

Washington Post:
White House Finds Trouble Harder to Shrug Off

Discussion: All Spin Zone

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Senate Passes Bill Containing Proposals of 9/11 Panel

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Think Progress

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:

Group Advocating for Muslims in U.S. Gets More Scrutiny — With violence across the Middle East fixing Islam smack at the center of the American political debate, an organization partly financed by donors closely identified with wealthy Persian Gulf governments has emerged as the most vocal advocate …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Big Lizards

Karl / protein wisdom: Scrutiny Increases for the Council on American-Islamic Relations...

Financial Times:

Fresh selling sweeps through global markets — World equity markets continued to tumble on Wednesday as fears over the growing crisis in the US subprime mortgage market triggered fresh selling. — After Wall Street tumbled overnight, Asian and European bourses were hit hard as investors headed …

Discussion: Blogs for Bush and Balloon Juice

Hans Greimel / Associated Press:
Asian, European stocks plunge

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Matt Stoller / The Politico:

Republican Propaganda Is Not News — Over the past three weeks or so, the progressive movement - bloggers, Moveon.org, grassroots activists, filmmakers - pressured the Nevada Democratic Party to drop Fox News as the host of a presidential debate in August. In pursuing this short campaign …

Discussion: QandO, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake and The Sideshow

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Fox News can't take a punch

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, MyDD, Think Progress and DownWithTyranny!

Sasha Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

DECONSTRUCTIONISM AND CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISM: The Critical Legal Studies movement is heavily influenced by the deconstruction movement. Jack Balkin explains how deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool migrated into the law, in his 2005 Cardozo Law Review article Deconstruction's Legal Career:

Discussion: TAPPED, The Debate Link and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Alan K. Simpson / Washington Post:

Bigotry That Hurts Our Military — As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it is critical that we review — and overturn — the ban on gay service in the military. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much has changed since 1993.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Captain's Quarters, Political Animal, Pam's House Blend, Lawyers, Guns and Money and ABCNEWS

Ynetnews:

London report: Senior Iranian officer 'disappears' — Tehran has lost contact with a senior Iranian officer serving in Iraq, according to London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. Iranian source speculates that he may have been taken into custody by Americans — Roee Nahmias

Discussion: Roger L. Simon and Confederate Yankee

Cain Burdeau / Associated Press:

Corps placed faulty pumps in New Orleans — NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment …

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Polimom Says and Brilliant at Breakfast