Top Items:
Michael Roston / The Raw Story:
Key Rove aide fingered in US Attorney investigation to step down; Could face subpoena — Multiple sources reported today that a top aide to President George W. Bush's key adviser Karl Rove will soon step down from her job in the White House. The aide, Sara M. Taylor, was identified …
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Washington Wire:
White House Faces More Departures — John D. McKinnon reports on staff changes at the White House. — Several impending departures from the White House could further complicate life for the hard-pressed Bush administration. — Peter Wehner, the head of strategic initiatives …
Denise Lavoie / Associated Press:
Gonzales defends his role in firings — BOSTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, amid a growing clamor for his resignation, acknowledged Friday confusion about of his role in firing eight U.S. attorneys but said he doesn't "recall being involved in deliberations" over which prosecutors were to be ousted.
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker
Washington Post:
Panel Asks Rove for Information on '08 Election Presentation — The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sought more information yesterday about a presentation by a White House aide given to political appointees at the General Services Administration that discussed targeting 20 …
Discussion:
The Unapologetic Mexican, The BRAD BLOG, CANNONFIRE, The Democratic Daily and Think Progress
Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Policy Aide's Departure Continues Transformation of Bush's Staff — Over the past several years, Peter H. Wehner has sent a blizzard of e-mails around the White House and the rest of Washington, offering strategy and policy ideas to President Bush and making the case for those policies to outsiders.
RushLimbaugh.com Home:
Warming: Do Not Give Democrats the Head of Alberto Gonzales — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: Let's move on to Kyle Sampson, who was testifying today before the Leaky Leahy Judiciary Committee in the United States Senate. There was a lot of hubbub about Kyle Sampson.
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Nico / Think Progress:
Rush Limbaugh: — Don't fire Gonzales even though he's incompetent because winning elections is much more important: … More Rush: "USA Today's got a poll: 'Do you think something's wrong about the firing of eight US attorneys?' 72% said yes. 72% of the American people …
Washington Post:
Giuliani Sees Policy Role for Wife — Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani told ABC News's Barbara Walters that he would welcome his wife, Judith, at White House Cabinet meetings and other policy discussions if he were elected president next year. — "If she wanted to," Giuliani said in the …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, No More Mister Nice Blog, Debbie Schlussel, New York Times, Althouse and ABCNEWS
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Washington Post:
Saudis Publicly Get Tough With U.S. — King's Remarks on Iraq Follow Signs Riyadh Is Distancing Itself From Bush — Of all the foreign leaders President Bush has dealt with over the past six years, few have been as direct or blunt in private as Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, according to U.S. officials.
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Richard Miniter / Washington Times:
Turkey, Iraq and the PKK — ANKARA, TURKEY. — When Iraq's vice president came to Turkey's capital on Tuesday to plead with the Turks not to invade northern Iraq to kill Kurdish terrorists, he spoke to the press in code. — The PKK is a Kurdish terrorist group that has killed some 30,000 Turks …
Discussion:
Michael P.F. van der Galiën
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ColorOfChange.org:
Rev. Jesse Jackson Denounces Congressional Black Caucus Institute's FOX Debate — ColorOfChange.org says CBC's decision is "shamefully out of touch" with Black voters; launches national campaign calling on CBC to reverse course and for presidential candidates to reject Fox debate
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Edward Wong / New York Times:
Iraqi Widow Saves Her Home, but Victory Is Brief — The two men showed up on Tuesday afternoon to evict Suaada Saadoun's family. One was carrying a shiny black pistol. — Ms. Saadoun was a Sunni Arab living in a Shiite enclave of western Baghdad. A widowed mother of seven, she and her family had been chased out once before.
Bill / INDCJournal:
"The USMC/Iraqi team was sluggin' it out side by side." (Chlorine Gas Attack Update) — Lt. Col. Clayton Fisher, commander of MiTT 6 at the brigade level (and my chaperone on an IA mission) was injured in Wednesday's chlorine truck bomb attack on the Fallujah Government Center and left this comment:
Kevin Freking / Associated Press:
Controversial leader of family planning office resigns — WASHINGTON — The head of the federal office responsible for providing women with access to contraceptives and counseling to prevent pregnancy resigned unexpectedly Thursday after Medicaid officials took action against him in Massachusetts.
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Which Is 'The Real War'? — "Our bill calls for the redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq so that we can focus more fully on the real war on terror, which is in Afghanistan." — The Senate and the House have both passed bills for ending the Iraq war, or at least liquidating the American involvement in it.
Discussion:
Redstate, Booman Tribune, QandO, Registan.net, Wake up America, The Influence Peddler, AMERICAN FUTURE, Gateway Pundit and Soccer Dad
Jose Antonio Vargas / Washington Post:
Grass Roots Planted In Cyberspace — John Edwards's Campaign Leads the Field In Political Use of Social Networking Sites — If there's a social networking site that John Edwards is not a part of, we'd like to know what it is, pronto. — No one's sure exactly what role these sites …
New York Times:
Presidential Candidates Focus on Fund-Raising — Forget campaigning. Last week, Rudolph W. Giuliani held a presidential fund-raiser every day of the week. Senator John McCain raised money at three events on Wednesday and another Thursday, racking up 27 this month alone.
Bruno Waterfield / Telegraph:
Don't confuse terrorism with Islam, says EU — The European Union has drawn up guidelines advising government spokesmen to refrain from linking Islam and terrorism in their statements. — Brussels officials have confirmed the existence of a classified handbook which offers "non-offensive" …
RADAR:
TIME TO ADMIT OVERSIGHT? — Is Time trying to bury the attorney general scandal that's seized Washington, D.C., for the past three months? In just the last week, new documents emerged contradicting Alberto Gonzales's account of his role in the firings, a low-level Department …
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
Des Moines Register:
6 candidates to campaign across Iowa over 5 days — The busy period will include the debut of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the leadoff caucus state. — The presidential campaign in Iowa will approach warp drive over the next several days, with the debut of former …
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Transplant Update (Update: Success!) — Note: This has been bumped to the top; newer posts are below. — I have a few moments to update everyone on the First Mate's progress. She went into surgery around 9:15 CT, about an hour ago. The donor went into surgery earlier, as is normal …
Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
Report Faults Interior Appointee — Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, IG Says — A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information …