Top Items:
Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
Voices From Iraq 2007: Ebbing Hope in a Landscape of Loss — National Survey of Iraq — A new national survey paints a devastating portrait of life in Iraq: widespread violence, torn lives, displaced families, emotional damage, collapsing services, an ever starker sectarian chasm …
RELATED:
Iraq — Washington Post Continuing Coverage:
Poll Shows Iraqis Feel Quality of Life Has Plunged — More than six in 10 Iraqis now say that their lives are going badly — double the percentage who said so in late 2005 — and about half say that increasing U.S. forces in the country will make the security situation worse …
White House:
President Bush Discusses Fourth Anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom — THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Four years ago today, coalition forces launched Operation Iraqi Freedom to remove Saddam Hussein from power. They did so to eliminate the threat his regime posed to the Middle East and to the world.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Republicans and U.S. attorneys — then and now — The fundamental difference between (a) a new administration replacing all U.S. attorneys (as multiple Presidents have done — including Clinton, Reagan and even Bush 41) and (b) cherry-picking ones for firing in the middle of an administration, has been amply documented.
RELATED:
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Today's Must Read — It's becoming one of the central rules of the U.S. attorney purge scandal: whatever "performance related" complaint the administration claims as the justification for a U.S. attorney's firing, it's actually an area of performance for which that U.S. attorney was lauded.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, The Carpetbagger Report, CorrenteWire and PoliBlog (TM)
Opinion Journal:
Get Out of DOJ — Should Gonzales resign? Plus KSM's confession and more.
Get Out of DOJ — Should Gonzales resign? Plus KSM's confession and more.
Discussion:
Macsmind
Adam Cohen / New York Times:
It Wasn't Just a Bad Idea. It May Have Been Against the Law.
It Wasn't Just a Bad Idea. It May Have Been Against the Law.
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Law Blog, The Heretik, Crooks and Liars and The Democratic Daily
James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:
News media and politics: an uneasy union — Some prominent journalists have mates who work for a presidential candidate. They approach this potential conflict in different ways. — Some of America's most prominent political journalists are, quite literally, wedded to the 2008 presidential race …
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts — Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight …
RELATED:
Michael Barone / Real Clear Politics:
The Blame-America-First Crowd — "They always blame America first." That was Jeane Kirkpatrick, describing the "San Francisco Democrats" in 1984. But it could be said about a lot of Americans, especially highly educated Americans, today. — In their assessment of what is going on in the world …
Nico / Think Progress:
Tony Snow 'Defensive' On Iraq Anniversary, Tells CNN's Ed Henry To 'Zip It' — President Bush will address the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion in a speech today at the White House. — During this morning's press gaggle, Tony Snow told reporters that Bush will use the speech to attack …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The Case For Fred Thompson — It's been only a week since former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) acknowledged that he is considering a run for president in 2008. — But in that short time he has managed to generate considerable interest among grassroots activists and the national media alike.
RELATED:
Robert Novak / Chicago Sun Times:
Christian right favors actor-pol Thompson over top three GOP candidates
Christian right favors actor-pol Thompson over top three GOP candidates
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
CBN.com:
John McCain Rips the Club For Growth — John McCain has taken some hits for not attending certain conservative events. With CPAC, he says it was a simple schedueling conflict. But he will not be speaking at the upcoming conservative Club For Growth meeting either. Why not?
David Ehrenstein / Los Angeles Times:
Obama the 'Magic Negro' — The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man. — AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president.
Discussion:
Polimom Says
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:
In '08 Race, Web Tactics Are Even More Integral — Handicapping Field — Is a Bigger Chore — As Goals Diverge — WASHINGTON — John Edwards topped the field of Democratic presidential contenders in the liberal blog DailyKos's latest straw poll. But Barack Obama has the most "friends" on MySpace.
Discussion:
Wonkette
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
Whose Ox Is Gored? — The media discover the former vice president's environmental exaggerations and hypocrisy. — The media are finally catching up with Al Gore. Criticism of his anti-global-warming franchise and his personal environmental record has gone beyond ankle-biting bloggers.
Discussion:
Business Week, Betsy's Page, Sister Toldjah, Austin Bay Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard and ShopFloor.org
Steven Swinford / Times of London:
BA sat corpse in first class — A BRITISH Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row. — The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow …
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Guest Post: Rep. Duncan Hunter — For this extended primary season, we have an extraordinary opportunity to get acquainted with the men and women who want to run for the Presidency. I have extended invitations to all campaigns to have their candidates post their messages to CQ readers.