memeorandum: Orrin Hatch Apologizes. Kind Of. (Rachel Maddow/The Rachel Maddow Show)

7:25 AM ET, April 6, 2007

Top Items:

Bill O'Reilly Loses His Damn Mind — In the entire, dark, black history of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, this is probably the craziest clip ever. A young girl was tragically killed by a drunk driver. But this was not enough for O'Reilly. Instead, because the criminal was an illegal alien …

Discussion: FRAMESHOP, Pam's House Blend, TVNewser, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

WAVY TV 10:

News conference held in response to Bill O'Reilly's criticism — Thursday night the city of Virginia Beach responded to criticism from a national talk show host. — Bill O'Reilly took aim at the city of Virginia Beadch on his show Wednesday night. City officials held a news conference Thursday evening and responded to O'Reilly.

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Bill O'Reilly's head practically explodes as he screams at Geraldo... We've seen Bill lose it before, but I think this one is the wildest segments I've ever seen. I really thought Bill was going to haul off an upper cut to Geraldo's jaw. Geraldo yelled at O'Reilly that the way he used this case was " A SIN!"

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and The Osterley Times

TRex / Firedoglake:
Late Nite FDL: Conservatives UNHINGED!!

Discussion: WTKR Home Page

R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:

Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted — Pentagon Report Says Contacts Were Limited — Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq …

Discussion: Informed Comment, New Pairodimes, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Liberal Values, The Osterley Times, Prairie Weather, The Washington Note, Rising Hegemon, Unqualified Offerings and Cliff Schecter

White House:

Interview of the Vice President by Rush Limbaugh, The Rush Limbaugh Show — Q It's always a great privilege to have the Vice President, Dick Cheney, with us. Mr. Vice President, welcome once again to our program. — THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Rush. It's good to be back on.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, First Draft and Left I on the News

RushLimbaugh.com Home:
Interview with Vice President Richard B. Cheney

Discussion: Blogs for Bush and Attytood

Amanda / Think Progress: Cheney: Senate Committee Is 'Stalinist' For Blocking Swift Boat Funder's Appointment

Joe Klein / Time:

An Administration's Epic Collapse — The first three months of the new Democratic Congress have been neither terrible nor transcendent. A Pew poll had it about right: a substantial majority of the public remains happy the Democrats won in 2006, but neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid …

Discussion: The Reaction, Political Animal, Liberal Values, Matthew Yglesias, Democrats.com, Macsmind and The Mahablog

Claudia Rosett / philly.com:

Pelosi was nuts to visit with Assad — In visiting Syria this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi no doubt meant well. She wants dialogue. As a woman, mother, and now the third-highest-ranking elected official in American politics, she has achieved a great deal in life by talking with people.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, Neocon Express and The Tank

Elizabeth Williamson / Washington Post:
Speaker's Role In Foreign Policy Is a Recent, and Sensitive, Issue

Discussion: Dayton Daily News, Associated Press, Obsidian Wings, blogs.usatoday.com, Wake up America, Think Progress, The Gavel and State of the Day

myfoxtwincities.com:

Exclusive: Shake Up at the U.S. Attorney's Office — MINNEAPOLIS — It's a major shakeup at the offices of new U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose. — Four of her top staff voluntarily demoted themselves Thursday, fed up with Paulose, who, after just months on the job, has earned a reputation …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Little Thom's Blog

WCCO-TV:
4 In U.S. Attorney's Office Resign In Protest

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

MSNBC:

12,000 more Guard troops may be going to Iraq — Deployment order planned to lessen 'surge's' strain on stretched-thin Army — WASHINGTON - Coming on the heels of a controversial "surge" of 21,000 U.S. troops that has stretched the Army thin, the Defense Department is preparing to send …

Discussion: The American Street, AMERICAblog, The Reaction and The Democratic Daily

Steve Hargreaves / CNNMoney.com:

And Iraq's big oil contracts go to ... Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Right Voices

C. J. Chivers / New York Times:

Dutch Soldiers Stress Restraint in Afghanistan — QALA-E-SURKH, Afghanistan — The Dutch infantrymen stood on a ridge near the Baluchi Valley, an area in south-central Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban and tribes opposed to the central government. — Whenever they push farther …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Gateway Pundit:

Harry Reid Gets Clobbered By Veterans For Not Supporting Troops (Video) — Harry Reid Gets Lambasted By Veterans... In a question and answer session at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Reno, Nev., on Thursday, April 5, 2007, Harry Reid got clobbered by a room full of veterans for not supporting the troops.

Discussion: Redstate, Cadillac Tight, Say Anything and Wake up America

Justin Rood Reports / The Blotter:

Probe Targets GSA Chief — Justin Rood Reports: — Another federal investigation is targeting a Bush administration official, this time for possibly using government resources for partisan political purposes. — The Office of Special Counsel confirmed to ABC News it has launched …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Carpetbagger Report, NewsHog, TPMmuckraker, Political Animal and The Agonist

Jim Gransbery / Billings Gazette:

Baucus calls health system near collapse — The U.S. health care system is on the "verge of collapse," Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Wednesday. — Trying to prevent that is a focus of his chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee, he said. "That is not pretentious or grandiose," he added.

Discussion: Sirotablog