memeorandum: Rove may have had role in firings (Los Angeles Times)

4:05 AM ET, March 17, 2007

Top Items:

White House Security Chief Reveals — No Probe of Plame Leak There — NEW YORK Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, told a congressional committee today that he was aware of no internal investigation or report into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Macsmind and NewsHog

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

Live Webcast of Hearing Begins at 10 a.m. — Chairman Henry A. Waxman announced a hearing on whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. At the hearing, the Committee will receive testimony from Ms. Wilson …

Discussion: The Gavel, The BRAD BLOG, Firedoglake and NO QUARTER

Jesse Lee / The Gavel:

Hearing on Disclosure of CIA Identity:No White House Investigation — No White House Investigation — The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding a hearing on whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Carpetbagger Report

Faiz / Think Progress:
VIDEO: Valerie Plame Confirms Her Covert Status Prior To Novak Leak

Discussion: Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog, TPMCafe blogs, The Huffington Post, The Impolitic, Washington Wire, Washington Post and The American Street

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Plame On! — Let's get into the Plame hearing conducted by Rep. Waxman today.

Discussion: Associated Press, Outside The Beltway, CNN Political Ticker, Instapundit.com, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere, Riehl World View, Power Line, Macsmind, Jules Crittenden, Wizbang, Sister Toldjah and The Hoya Zone

Nico / Think Progress:
CIA Director Hayden: 'Wilson Was Covert'

Discussion: Donklephant

David Stout / New York Times:
Subject of C.I.A. Leak Testifies on Capitol Hill

Discussion: Althouse

The Raw Story:
Plame hearing transcript

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG

The Nation:
Valerie Plame Speaks—Finally—About CIA Leak Case

Discussion: JustOneMinute and NO QUARTER

Think Progress:
Top Bush Official Reveals White House Never Investigated Plame Leak

Discussion: Committee on Oversight …

David Corn:
Valerie Plame Speaks

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Booman Tribune

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Waxman Hearing, Panel II — Part II

Discussion: Angry Bear and Crooks and Liars

CBS News:

Will Gonzales Fall For Attorney Firings? — Sources: AG's Ouster Is Inevitable; Fired Attorney Blames Partisan Politics — (CBS/AP) One of the eight recently fired U.S. attorneys at the center of a growing political scandal tells CBS News that he lost his job because he "did not play ball" with powerful Republicans.

Discussion: The Next Hurrah, Daily Kos and The Reaction

Nico / Think Progress:

Gonzales Gave Kyle Sampson New Justice Dept. Office After His Supposed 'Resignation' — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales planned to install his former aide Kyle Sampson as a lawyer in the Justice Department's environment division even after Sampson's "resignation," NPR reported today.

Discussion: My Left Wing and Shakespeare's Sister

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:

White House Backs Off on Miers Scenario — The White House retreated today from its claim that former counsel Harriet E. Miers first came up with the idea of firing U.S. attorneys, another apparent shift in the Bush administration's evolving version of events behind the controversy.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Talking Points Memo

Real Cities:
Gonzales apologizes to prosecutors

Discussion: MyDD and Talking Points Memo

Nico / Think Progress: Bush 'Pugnacious,' 'In Deep Denial,' As White House Allies Press …

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Memo to Gonzales — Was it arrogance or ignorance that led …

Discussion: Power Line, The Carpetbagger Report and CorrenteWire

Los Angeles Times:
Rove may have had role in firings

Discussion: TalkLeft, Boston Globe, White House Watch and The Swamp

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press:

FBI: Extremists Driving School Buses — WASHINGTON (AP) - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."

Discussion: Counterterrorism Blog, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Preemptive Karma, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Polimom Says, Jules Crittenden, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Wizbang

Fox News:

FBI PUTS LOCAL OFFICIALS ON NOTICE ABOUT EXTREMISTS TRYING TO SIGN UP TO BE SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS — WASHINGTON — The FBI has issued an "informational bulletin" to state and local officials saying to watch out for people tied to extremist groups trying to earn licenses to drive school buses.

Discussion: Jihad Watch and Confederate Yankee

Adam Nagourney / The Caucus:

McCain Stumbles on H.I.V. Prevention — SOMEWHERE in NORTHERN IOWA — The unthinkable has happened. Senator John McCain met a question, while sitting with reporters on his bus as it rumbled through Iowa today, that he couldn't - or perhaps wouldn't - answer.

Discussion: AMERICAblog and The Right's Field

Eric Pianin / Campaign Trail:

McCain is stumped on the stump — It's not often that a reporter stumps John McCain. But it happened Friday, and it was a telling moment for the Republican presidential contender. — The bus had been rolling for a half-hour and McCain was holding court on everything from Iraq to college basketball.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, Taylor Marsh, Shakespeare's Sister and Balloon Juice

Bryan Bender / Boston Globe:

General seeks another brigade in Iraq — WASHINGTON — The top US commander in Iraq has requested another Army brigade, in addition to five already on the way, as part of the controversial "surge" of American troops designed to clamp down on sectarian violence and insurgent groups, senior Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Reaction and Ace of Spades HQ

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Okay, I think I've unearthed the Barack Obama quote that Bill Clinton is criticizing The New York Times for not giving more attention to. It's from July of 2004. — As reported below, Clinton sharply criticized The Times at a private fundraiser the other day.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Jules Crittenden

New York Post:
BILL RIPS TIMES' HILL BASHING

Discussion: Horses Mouth, Sister Toldjah and The Caucus

Nitpicker:

Dance, Foxholes, Dance! — In the light of Fox News scrambling to maintain the thinnest veneer of "balance" after Democrats refused to lend them respectability, I thought it might be time to point out something I witnessed first hand as a public affairs sergeant in Afghanistan. I call it the "Fox News Two Step."

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Daily Kos and MyDD

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

When The Hobby Becomes The Profession — Just a little over three and a half years ago, I began this blog as a creative writing outlet and a chance to hone my skills. When I launched Captain's Quarters, I had no idea how it would grow, that it would attract this wonderful community of readers …

Discussion: BlogTalkRadio, The Moderate Voice and protein wisdom

Richard Brookhiser / Time:

Conscientious Objectors — Congressional Democrats are struggling to find the right formula for ending the war in Iraq. "This is a campaign," said New York Senator Charles Schumer, looking forward to a series of hearings and resolutions. "We are going to continue this discussion …