memeorandum: Goodling said she would invoke 5th Amendment if called before Congress (Associated Press)

6:15 PM ET, April 6, 2007

Top Items:

Pelosi steps out of bounds on ill-conceived trip to Syria — Bush's no-talk policy is flawed, but speaker's tactics are no solution. — Democrats in Congress have been busy flexing their foreign policy muscles almost from the moment they took power in January, for the most part responsibly.

Discussion: TBogg, QandO, Gateway Pundit, News Bloggers Blog, Cadillac Tight, Blue Crab Boulevard and philly.com

Robert F. Turner / Opinion Journal:

Illegal Diplomacy — Did Nancy Pelosi commit a felony when she went to Syria? — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Discussion: TIME: Swampland, Wake up America, The Strata-Sphere, Wizbang, NewsBusters.org, Macsmind, Confederate Yankee, WILLisms.com and Iowa Voice

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:

Cheney Sticks to His Delusions — Faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, even President Bush has backed off his earlier inflammatory assertions about links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. — But Vice President Cheney yesterday, in an interview with right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Impolitic, At-Largely, No More Mister Nice Blog, Telegraph Blogs, Norwegianity, The Carpetbagger Report and Democratic Underground

Faiz / Think Progress:

Lauer On Pelosi Syria Visit: 'Let's Face It, A Lot Of People Think She Messed Up On This One' — This morning, NBC's Today Show ran a biased segment casting doubt on Pelosi's Syria trip. Every single question asked by anchor Matt Lauer was framed around conservative talking points.

Discussion: Reuters, TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Media Matters for America and Associated Press

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Oh, dear. Guess who's taking the Washington Post's editorial board to task for its editorial stance against Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria? One of the Post's own Op ed columnists, Eugene Robinson. — Check out this appearance by Robinson on Hardball. Robinson defends Pelosi's trip to Syria …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Daily Kos

Michael Young / Lebanon Daily Star:

When a dilettante takes on Hizbullah — We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that "the road to solving Lebanon's problems passes through Damascus." Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi …

Discussion: TigerHawk

Tom Lantos / USA Today:
Within the bounds — USA TODAY's views distort both the nature …

Discussion: Wake up America

Associated Press:

Goodling said she would invoke 5th Amendment if called before Congress — WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' top aide, who refusedto testify before Congress about her role in the politically charged firing of eight U.S. attorneys, abruptly quit her job Friday.

Discussion: Firedoglake and PoliBlog (TM)

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press:

Gonzales aide who asserted Fifth resigns — WASHINGTON - A top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales abruptly quit on Friday, almost two weeks after telling Congress she would not testify about her role in the firings of federal prosecutors. — There was no immediate reason given …

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Justice Department In New Fight Over Papers on Firings

Discussion: publicbroadcasting.net, PoliBlog (TM), The Carpetbagger Report, The Next Hurrah, Firedoglake, WSJ.com, TPMmuckraker, Democrats.com, First Read, Rook's Rant and politburo diktat 2.0

David Johnston / New York Times:
Panel Seeks Written Account From Gonzales

Discussion: Firedoglake

Richard Holt / Telegraph:

Sailors 'blindfolded, bound and threatened' — The British service personnel held hostage in Iran said they were blindfolded, bound and threatened with seven years in prison if they didn't admit they had strayed into Iranian waters. — At a press conference the sailors and Marines confirmed …

Discussion: Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Jules Crittenden and The Corner

Tom Kelly / Daily Mail:

Blindfolded Britons tell of the moment the guards' guns clicked — * We were blindfolded and subjected to interrogation — * We were told we faced seven years in prison if we did not 'confess' — * Iranians entered Iraqi waters deliberately to detain us. Fighting back was not an option

Discussion: In From the Cold, The Daily Dish and Wizbang

Tariq Panja / Associated Press:
Britons: Iran bound, threatened captives

Discussion: NewsHog

Associated Press:

Cheney reasserts al-Qaida-Saddam connection — Vice president's words come as latest Pentagon report again dismisses link — WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing …

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, WorldwideStandard.com, Washington Post, Blanton's and Ashton's, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, American Footprints, Brilliant at Breakfast, New Pairodimes, The Heretik and The Rude Pundit

Bloomberg:
Hussein-Qaeda Link 'Inappropriate,' Report Says

Discussion: The Huffington Post, First Read and TIME: Swampland

Bruce Bartlett / New York Times:

How Supply-Side Economics Trickled Down — AS one who was present at the creation of "supply-side economics" back in the 1970s, I think it is long past time that the phrase be put to rest. It did its job, creating a new consensus among economists on how to look at the national economy.

Discussion: Political Animal, The Carpetbagger Report and PrestoPundit

Mark Thoma / Economist's View:
Bruce Bartlett: How Supply-Side Economics Trickled Down

Discussion: Angry Bear and Ezra Klein

Minneapolis Star Tribune:

3 federal prosecutors quit manager posts — They left their management jobs with the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office and will go back to prosecuting cases. — In a surprising move, three top lawyers in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office resigned their management positions Thursday and will return to prosecuting cases.

Discussion: TalkLeft, WCCO-TV, Talking Points Memo, politburo diktat 2.0 and MNpublius.com

Amanda / Think Progress:
Gonzales's Former Assistant Causes Turmoil As U.S. Attorney

Discussion: Associated Press, Firedoglake and myfoxtwincities.com

El Presidente / Slapstick Politics:

Colorado Statue Honoring Fallen Navy SEAL Opposed, "Glorifies Violence" — **Welcome Michelle Malkin readers—scroll for updates … Plans to honor Littleton, Co. native and fallen Navy SEAL Danny Dietz, killed while fighting al-Qaeda guerillas in Afghanistan in 2005 …

Discussion: Sadly, No!

Joey Bunch / Denver Post: Line drawn in park over statue

Guardian:

How the web became a sexists' paradise — Everyone receives abuse online but the sheer hatred thrown at women bloggers has left some in fear for their lives. Jessica Valenti, editor of Feministing.com, reports — Last week, Kathy Sierra, a well-known software programmer and Java expert …

Discussion: Althouse, Dohiyi Mir, TAPPED and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Britain's Humiliation — and Europe's — Iran has pulled off a tidy little success with its seizure and release of those 15 British sailors and marines: a pointed humiliation of Britain, with a bonus demonstration of Iran's intention to push back against coalition challenges to its assets in Iraq.