memeorandum: Study finds one-third in D.C. illiterate (Associated Press)

2:50 PM ET, March 19, 2007

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 …

Discussion: NewsHog, Liberal Values, No More Mister Nice Blog, Middle Earth Journal and AMERICAblog

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.

Discussion: TAPPED and Gateway Pundit

Iraq — Washington Post Continuing Coverage:
Poll Shows Iraqis Feel Quality of Life Has Plunged

Discussion: azzaman.com, Lean Left, The Daily Dish, New Statesman, Daily Kos and All Spin Zone

USA Today:
Iraqis see hope drain away

Discussion: Guardian, The Lede, Firedoglake, The American Street and Pollster

Karen DeYoung / Iraq:
Iraq War's Statistics Prove Fleeting

Discussion: The Heretik

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 …

Discussion: AMERICAblog, CorrenteWire, The Carpetbagger Report and BlondeSense

Associated Press:

Bush Pleads for Patience in Iraq War — WASHINGTON (AP) - With Democrats pushing for an end to the Iraq war now entering its fifth year, President Bush pleaded for more patience Monday, saying success is possible but "will take months, not days or weeks." — The war has stretched longer …

Discussion: Don Surber

Russell Berman / New York Sun:

Schumer Faulted on Probe — GOP Solons See Conflict on Attorneys — WASHINGTON — Senator Schumer is coming under criticism from Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who say Mr. Schumer's leadership in the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings presents a conflict …

Adam Cohen / New York Times:
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

Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:
Democrats turn up heat on firing of U.S. attorney

Discussion: Think Progress

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.

Discussion: Eschaton, DownWithTyranny! and Macsmind

Opinion Journal:

Get Out of DOJ — Should Gonzales resign? Plus KSM's confession and more. — Paul Gigot: This week on "The Journal Editorial Report," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is under fire for what Democrats are calling a political purge. But how unprecedented was the dismissal of those eight U.S. attorneys?

Discussion: Macsmind

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 …

Discussion: Public Eye, Romenesko and FishBowlDC

Associated Press:

Study finds one-third in D.C. illiterate — WASHINGTON - About one-third of the people living in the national's capital are functionally illiterate, compared with about one-fifth nationally, according to a report on the District of Columbia. — Adults are considered functionally illiterate …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

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?

Discussion: Reason Magazine, GOPProgress.com, Redstate and The Right Angle

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.

Discussion: CJR Daily, The Caucus and Ezra Klein

Robert Novak / Chicago Sun Times:
Christian right favors actor-pol Thompson over top three GOP candidates

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Carpetbagger Report and State of the Day

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: Captain's Quarters, Polimom Says and politburo diktat 2.0

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

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, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, CorrenteWire and PoliBlog (TM)

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.