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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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.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The president's oh-so-noble reliance on "executive privilege" — There are several important facts to note about the President's vow at this afternoon's Press Conference to resist attempts to compel Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to testify to Congress, under oath, with regard to the firing of the U.S. attorneys.
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:
TalkLeft, Firedoglake, CNN Political Ticker, Taylor Marsh, State of the Day, Booman Tribune, TPMmuckraker and Washington Post
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 …
Discussion:
Associated Press, DownWithTyranny!, The Impolitic, Middle Earth Journal and State of the Day
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.
David Montgomery / Washington Post:
Far From Iraq, A Demonstration Of a War Zone — There's a lot of weirdness every day in the capital city, but this one pushed the envelope: 13 Iraq war veterans in full desert camo going on "patrol" from Union Station to Arlington National Cemetery. They carried imaginary assault rifles …
Eric Zorn / Change of Subject:
Soldier's dad tells Bush, `This war is wrong' — The two-page letter is signed from the "proud father of a fallen soldier." — A little more than six weeks ago, his soul a cauldron of grief and rage, Richard Landeck, 56, of Wheaton addressed and mailed it to President Bush.
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 …
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:
Mudville Gazette, Flopping Aces, The Jawa Report, Neptunus Lex, TAPPED, PoliPundit.com and Right Wing News
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies — John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in Ashland, Ore. He was 82.
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. "
Kansas City Star:
Bush at Claycomo: Hybrids one of the avenues to energy independence — President Bush continued his drumming for less reliance on foreign oil Tuesday, using two Kansas City-area auto assembly plants as his backdrop. — Speaking at Ford's Claycomo facility, he offered it and GM's Fairfax operation …