Top Items:
Washington Post:
E-Mails Show Machinations to Replace Prosecutor — Administration Worked for Months to Make Rove Aide U.S. Attorney in Arkansas — Two months before Bud Cummins was fired as U.S. attorney in Little Rock, a protege of presidential adviser Karl Rove was maneuvering with the Justice Department to take his place.
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David Ignatius / Washington Post:
An Inside-the-Bushies Mentality — If you read the obituary pages of The Post each morning, you encounter the kinds of people who are being trashed by the Bush administration's contempt for public servants. On a typical day, perhaps a third of the obits feature such people …
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Liberals Relent on Iraq War Funding — House Likely to Pass Bill With Pullout Date — Liberal opposition to a $124 billion war spending bill broke last night, when leaders of the antiwar Out of Iraq Caucus pledged to Democratic leaders that they will not block the measure, which sets timelines for bringing U.S. troops home.
Discussion:
Sirotablog, MyDD, The Swamp, Right Wing Nut House, Macsmind, Big Lizards, The Impolitic, Blogs for Bush, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog, workingforchange.com … and The Hill
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Tom Curry / MSNBC:
Pelosi on brink of big win with Iraq funding test — Anti-war House members rally to speaker despite past 'no' votes on money — Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., has voted against previous spending bills for the Iraq war but will vote for the $124 billion measure being pushed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
New York Times:
Democrats Shore Up Support for Iraq Votes — For days, Democratic leaders have scrambled to shore up enough support to pass their Iraq legislation. They delayed the final vote by a day, fearful that a few undecided lawmakers — on the left and right — could jeopardize their plan to set …
Austin Bay Blog:
Michael Yon threatened with expulsion by a general — This is stupid. Michael Yon and Bill Roggio are the best out there. Telling Michael Yon to exit the theater is the WWII equivalent of telling Ernie Pyle to quit filing dispatches. — Everyone knows the PAO system has never …
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Michael Yon:
RUBS — The great difficulty in filing stories from Iraq is leading me to experiment. We are into the fifth year of the war Iraq, yet no comprehensive system exists to help media communicate to people at home. Raw information only trickles back from Iraq because the flow is strangled.
Washington Post:
Retreat and Butter — TODAY THE House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill that would grant $25 million to spinach farmers in California. The legislation would also appropriate $75 million for peanut storage in Georgia and $15 million to protect Louisiana rice fields from saltwater.
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New York Times:
New to Pentagon, Gates Argued for Closing Guantánamo Prison — In his first weeks as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates repeatedly argued that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantánamo would be viewed …
New York Times:
Edwards Says Wife's Cancer Has Returned — John Edwards, the North Carolina Democrat, said Thursday that his wife's cancer had returned in incurable form. He proclaimed that he would continue his bid for the presidency, saying, "The campaign goes on strongly."
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
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Michael Kinsley / time-blog.com:
Politics, Lies, and 93 v. 8 — David Brooks has an excellent column today, and not for the usual reasons that liberals praise Brooks (and he drives conservatives crazy): because he comes halfway toward us. It's because, in discussing the US Attorneys story, he nails a distinction that I, at least, was struggling with.
Discussion:
Brendan Nyhan, Outside The Beltway, Political Animal, TPMCafe blogs, PoliBlog (TM), protein wisdom and Norwegianity
Sky News:
British Forces Held By Iran — The Government is demanding the "immediate and safe return" of 15 British sailors and Marines who are being held by Iranian forces. — They were taking part in a routine operation boarding merchant ships in Iraqi territorial waters when they were seized by Iranian naval vessels.
New York Times:
Army Revises Upward the Number of Desertions — A total of 3,196 active-duty soldiers deserted the Army last year, or 853 more than previously reported, according to revised figures from the Army. — The new calculations by the Army, which had about 500,000 active-duty troops at the end of 2006 …
Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:
Fewer pledge allegiance to the GOP — A poll says 35% of those surveyed identify with Republicans. Public attitudes seem to be drifting toward Democrats' values. — WASHINGTON — Public allegiance to the Republican Party has plunged during George W. Bush's presidency …
Associated Press:
Court strikes down Internet porn law … PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday dealt another blow to government efforts to control Internet pornography, striking down a 1998 U.S. law that makes it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access "harmful" material.
Discussion:
Blogcritics Section
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Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Clinton: 'It's just not fair' — Former President Bill Clinton yesterday complained that "it's just not fair" the way his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is being depicted for her controversial Iraq war vote. — Speaking to hundreds of supporters on conference call …
Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:
Martinez Blasts L.A. Times Newsroom's "Agenda" and "Ostensibly Objective News Reporters and Editors" — In an eye-opening online resignation from his position as editor of the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times, Andres Martinez today lashed out at news reporters and editors for having an "agenda":
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Dean Barnett / Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog:
Thoughts on John and Elizabeth Edwards — The first time I got bad medical news was 11 years ago. I responded what with then was (and sometimes still is) characteristic bluster. I confidently told my doctor that I would crush this little obstacle and soon resume my life as normal.