memeorandum: Right-hand man now a scapegoat? (Robert Gehrke/Salt Lake Tribune)

8:50 PM ET, March 18, 2007

Top Items:

Right-hand man now a scapegoat? — Search for answers swirls around Cedar City native — WASHINGTON - Kyle Sampson had a hand in shaping some of the Bush administration's most ambitious and contentious policies, such as terrorism surveillance, prisoner detention and picking Supreme Court justices.

Discussion: TBogg

MSNBC:

MTP Transcript for Mar. 18, 2007 — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday, the attorney general of the United States under fire. Why were eight U.S. attorneys removed? Did the Bush administration mislead Congress? With us, from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York.

Discussion: The Caucus and WorldwideStandard.com

Newsweek:

Disorder in King George's Court — At highly charged moments, attorney General Alberto Gonzales can seem placid, passive—at times, just plain out of it. In the summer of 2002, high-level Bush administration officials met to debate secretly a delicate issue: how aggressively could the CIA interrogate terror suspects?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and TPMmuckraker

Doyle McManus / Los Angeles Times:
Gonzales' plight puts Bush at risk

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Grasping Reality … and Angry Bear

Washington Post:

Lessons of War — TOMORROW MARKS the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, as appropriate a moment as any to take stock. What matters most is finding the best policy now — doing whatever can be done to help Iraq and safeguard U.S. interests in a vital region.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, DownWithTyranny!, Taylor Marsh, The Agonist, Middle Earth Journal, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Wot Is It Good 4 and Times of London

Marie Colvin / Times of London:
Resilient Iraqis ask what civil war?

Paul Mirengoff / News Bloggers Blog:
Al Gore — phony and wrong

Discussion: Power Line and Tennessean.com

BarbinMD / Daily Kos:
An Editorial From The Washington Post

Discussion: Pacific Views, TalkLeft and Jules Crittenden

Faiz / Think Progress:

Hume Launches New Smear: Plame Lied Under Oath — Today on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume continued his campaign to smear Valerie Plame Wilson. Previously, he had falsely said that it was "unlikely she was" covert. — Instead of apologizing this morning, he launched a new attack against Plame …

Discussion: Angry Bear, Hullabaloo, The Reaction and Don Surber

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
I was waiting for this: Hume says Plame lied under oath

Discussion: The Mahablog

Bill Theobald / Tennessean.com:

Tenn. mine enriched Gore, scarred land — No major pollution violations, but threat remains — CARTHAGE, Tenn. - Al Gore has profited from zinc mining that has released millions of pounds of potentially toxic substances near his farmstead, but there is no evidence the mine has caused serious damage …

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, Instapundit.com, ShopFloor.org, Scared Monkeys, PoliPundit.com, TIME and Bill Hobbs

Deacon / Power Line:
WHITHER THE WEATHER — Jonathan Last takes a look at Al Gore's case on global warming.

Discussion: philly.com

Eleanor Clift / Newsweek:

Gore on the Un-Campaign Trail — Since the documentary he starred in, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Academy Award, speculation has only increased about Al Gore's potential entry into the presidential race. He is not taking any overt steps toward running, and that may be the cleverest strategy of all.

Discussion: Liberal Values and Macsmind

CNN:

Poll: Confidence in Iraq war down sharply … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Americans are starkly less confident and proud of their country's involvement in Iraq, according to poll results released Sunday. — However, the poll — results of which were released on the eve of the Iraq war's 4-year anniversary …

Discussion: My Left Wing

The Nation:

Congress, End the War — "War is over, if you want it," declared John Lennon in the thick of the Vietnam nightmare. To the extent that Lennon's "you" referred to the US Congress, he was right, then and now. The House and Senate have the authority to end the war in Iraq quickly, efficiently and honorably.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Daily Kos

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Saudi Arabia Routinely Frees Detainees — Release of Guantanamo Prisoners Undermines U.S. Claims of Threat, Analysis Says — In official documents, Detainee No. 266 was an accused al-Qaeda member who refused to speak to his captors, much less admit or deny terrorism links.

Discussion: the talking dog

Steve Chapman / Real Clear Politics:

Signs of Life in the Second Amendment — For nearly 70 years, the Second Amendment has been the Jimmy Hoffa of constitutional provisions — missing, its whereabouts unknown, and presumed dead. The right to keep and bear arms, though treasured by many Americans, was a complete stranger to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Chicago Boyz

Neal Stephenson / New York Times:

It's All Geek to Me — A WEEK ago Friday, moments before an opening-day showing of the movie "300" at Seattle's Cinerama, a 20-something moviegoer rushed to the front of the theater, dropped his shoulders, curled his arms into a mock-Schwarzenegger pose and bellowed out a timeless remark …

Discussion: Instapundit.com

Lawrence Lessig / New York Times:

Make Way for Copyright Chaos — LAST week, Viacom asked a federal court to order the video-sharing service YouTube to pay it more than $1 billion in damages for some 150,000 videos that Viacom claims it owns and YouTube users have shared. "YouTube," the complaint alleges …

Ryan Lizza / New York Times:

Nowadays, a Candidate Can Seem Too Experienced — RUNNING a credible campaign for president has always required an elusive mixture of star power and experience. But Barack Obama's strong challenge to Hillary Clinton and Rudolph W. Giuliani's recent surge past Senator John McCain …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Sirotablog

Simon Romero / New York Times:

Venezuela to Give Currency New Name and Numbers — Of all the startling measures announced by President Hugo Chávez this year, from the nationalization of major utilities to threats of imprisonment for violators of price controls, none have baffled economists quite like his venture into monetary reform.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM) and Matthew Yglesias