memeorandum: Press Briefing by Tony Snow and Dan Fisk (White House)

11:15 AM 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: Bench Conference, Right Wing Nut House, The Swamp, Brilliant at Breakfast, Angry Bear, Is That Legal?, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, THE CUNNING REALIST, The BLT and PoliBlog (TM)

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, JustOneMinute and Outside The Beltway

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: The Heretik, Crooks and Liars, The Gun Toting Liberal ™, The Democratic Daily, Outside The Beltway, CorrenteWire, Donklephant and Daily Kos

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

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, Pacific Views, TalkLeft and TBogg

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, Macsmind and The Mahablog

New York Times:

'Loyalty' to Bush and Gonzales Was Factor in Prosecutors' Firings, E-Mail Shows — Late in the afternoon on Dec. 4, a deputy to Harriet E. Miers, then the White House counsel and one of President Bush's most trusted aides, sent a two-line e-mail message to a top Justice Department aide.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, MyDD, Central Sanity, Liberal Values and All Spin Zone

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

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

Real Cities:
Emails detail plans for firing U.S. attorneys

Discussion: The Impolitic, Talking Points Memo, MyDD and Bring it On!

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

Discussion: First Draft and Extreme Mortman

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

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Think Progress

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

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, Washington Post, Firedoglake and Hang Right Politics

Les Blumenthal / Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:
GOP leader confirms he called U.S. attorney about governor's race

Discussion: Seattle Weekly, The Carpetbagger Report, Macsmind, TPMmuckraker, Hullabaloo, Redstate and Seattle Times

Michael Gisick / abqtrib.com:
Rove played role in Iglesias dismissal

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM)

Washington Post:
White House Finds Trouble Harder to Shrug Off

Discussion: All Spin Zone

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

Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings: US Attorneys: The Basics

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: Balloon Juice and Blogs for Bush

Hans Greimel / Associated Press:
Asian, European stocks plunge

Discussion: AMERICAblog

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: protein wisdom and Big Lizards

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Gray Lady Uses Skirts To Hide CAIR

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: Media Matters for America, QandO, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake and The Sideshow

Alexander Mooney / CNN Political Ticker:
Poll: Less than half of Americans think victory in Iraq is possible

Discussion: The Swamp

Amit R. Paley / Washington Post:

'No Child' Target Is Called Out of Reach — Goal of 100% Proficiency Debated as Congress Weighs Renewal — No Child Left Behind, the landmark federal education law, sets a lofty standard: that all students tested in reading and math will reach grade level by 2014.

Discussion: The Sideshow

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN....What an …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Outside The Beltway

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: Captain's Quarters, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Pam's House Blend, ABCNEWS and Taylor Marsh

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 and Brilliant at Breakfast

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