Top Items:
Associated Press:
Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority — WASHINGTON - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to end the Bush administration's ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of eight federal prosecutors.
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New York Times:
White House Voices Support for Gonzales — The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to revoke the authority it granted the Bush administration last year to name federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation. — By a vote of 94 to 2, the Senate restored the previous system for naming federal prosecutors.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, CNN Political Ticker, Taylor Marsh, Booman Tribune, State of the Day, TalkLeft and TPMmuckraker
Satyam / Think Progress:
FACT CHECK: There Is No Precedent Barring White House Aides From Testifying To Congress — Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) has called on Karl Rove and other top White House aides to testify under oath in front of Congress concerning their role in the U.S. attorney purge.
Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
Bush Warns Dems to Take Offer in Firings — WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to allow top aides to testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath, or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down.
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere
ABCNEWS:
White House Offers Interview With Rove — White House Offers to Make Rove, Miers Available for Interview in Attorneys Probe — The White House offered Tuesday to make political strategist Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers available for interviews but not testimony under oath …
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
TPM Needs YOU to Comb Through Thousands of Pages — Josh and I were just discussing how in the world we are ever going to make our way through 3,000 pages when it hit us: we don't have to. Our readers can help. — So here's what we're going to do. This comment thread will be our HQ for sorting through tonight's document dump.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, White House Watch, The Anonymous Liberal, NO QUARTER, NewsHog, Obsidian Wings, The Gavel, The Caucus, Bench Conference, The Daily Background, The Impolitic, Discourse.net, Multi Medium, Macsmind, Political Animal, Mercury Rising, The Thinkery, Seeing the Forest, Confederate Yankee, Matthew Yglesias, All Spin Zone, The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, My Left Wing, Taylor Marsh, MyDD, The Democratic Daily, CorrenteWire, Talking Points Memo, American Spectator, Patterico's Pontifications, State of the Day and Daily Kos
Allan Hall / Daily Mail:
'We want this baby polar bear dead' say animal rights lobby — Tiny, fluffy and adorable, Knut the baby polar bear became an animal superstar after he was abandoned by his mother. — He rapidly became the symbol of Berlin Zoo, whose staff bottle-fed him and handed out cuddles in between
Dave Wedge / Boston Herald:
Mitt's Commie phrase sparks rage — Cubans in Miami are steaming mad at former Gov. Mitt Romney for shooting his mouth off in stumbling Spanish, mispronouncing names and erroneously associating a notorious Fidel Castro-spewed Communist catch phrase with freedom fighters.
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
War Bill Includes Tempting Projects — Democrats' Tactic Poses Dilemma for Some Lawmakers — House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year.
Discussion:
TAPPED, Flopping Aces, The Jawa Report, Neptunus Lex, PoliPundit.com, Right Wing News and On Deadline
Gordon Cucullu / New York Post:
THE IRAQ SURGE: WHY IT'S WORKING ... 'I WALKED down the streets of Ramadi a few days ago, in a soft cap eating an ice cream with the mayor on one side of me and the police chief on the other, having a conversation. " This simple act, Gen. David Petraeus told me, would have been "unthinkable" just a few months ago. "
Frank Newport / Gallup Poll:
Congress Job Approval Back Down Again This Month — January and February uptick appears to have dissipated — PRINCETON, NJ — The modest uptick in approval of the job being done by Congress has dissipated for the most part after only two months. Congress job approval had risen …
FIRE:
Victory for Free Expression at San Francisco State University — No Punishment for Stepping on Hamas, Hezbollah Flags — In a crucial victory for free expression, San Francisco State University (SFSU) announced yesterday that its College Republicans will face no punishment for hosting …
Eric Pfeiffer / Washington Times:
Climate scientist sees cover-up — A NASA scientist who said the Bush administration muzzled him because of his belief in global warming yesterday acknowledged to Congress that he'd done more than 1,400 on-the-job interviews in recent years. — James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute …
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup Poll:
Giuliani Top Choice Among Both Moderate, Conservative Republicans — Gingrich, Romney do better among conservatives than moderates — PRINCETON, NJ — With the 2008 Republican presidential field beginning to come into shape, there are still questions and apparent opportunities for a favorite "conservative" candidate to emerge.