memeorandum: Hank Paulson "Needs More" … (Steve Clemons/The Huffington Post)

Rep. Adam Putnam: Time for Gonzales to Go — A congressional Republican leader on Friday joined bipartisan calls for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign but the White House reaffirmed its confidence in President George W. Bush's long-time friend.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Central Sanity and Hullabaloo

Washington Post:

Bush Rebuffs GOP Pressure For Gonzales to Step Down — After Testimony, Attorney General Loses Lawmakers' Support — President Bush yesterday stood by his embattled friend, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, defying the broad bipartisan consensus emerging in Washington …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Don Surber, Middle Earth Journal and Daily Kos

Faiz / Think Progress:
Limbaugh: Conservatives Should 'Circle The Wagons' Around 'Idiot …

Discussion: Bloomberg, CBS News, Outside The Beltway, DownWithTyranny!, Couric & Co., The Daily Background and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Krishna Guha / Financial Times:

World Bank steps up pressure on Wolfowitz — The World Bank's executive board on Friday ratcheted up the pressure on Paul Wolfowitz to step down as president by simultaneously promising swift action on the Shaha Riza controversy and broadening the scope of its investigations to include other issues as well.

Steve Clemons / The Huffington Post:

Hank Paulson "Needs More" to Knife Wolfowitz: How About Wolfowitz's Employment Contract that He Be Allowed to Take Speaker Fees? — Secretary of the Treasury "Hank Paulson can easily control his enthusiasm for Paul Wolfowitz," according to a source close to Paulson, "but he does not have enough yet to stick the final knife in."

Wretchard / The Belmont Club:

Deliver us from evil — According to the AP. Iraqi insurgents are now fighting each other, as "moderate" Sunni terrorists tangle with "extremist" al-Qaeda whose brand of Islam is so radical that it prohibits placing cucumbers beside tomatoes because these vegetables have different genders.

Discussion: Middle East Times and Dr. Sanity

Todd Pitman / Associated Press:

Iraqi insurgents now fighting each other — MUQDADIYAH, Iraq — At least two major insurgent groups are battling al-Qaida in provinces outside Baghdad, American military commanders said Friday, an indication of a deepening rift between Sunni guerrilla groups in Iraq.

Discussion: Wake up America and QandO

New York Times:

U.S. Erects Baghdad Wall to Keep Sects Apart — American military commanders in Baghdad are trying a radical new strategy to quell the widening sectarian violence by building a 12-foot-high, three-mile-long wall separating a historic Sunni enclave from Shiite neighborhoods.

Discussion: Thomas P.M. Barnett and Liberty Street

Washington Post:
Gates Coaxes Iraq on Political Front

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and The Carpetbagger Report

Tristero / Hullabaloo: And Nothing Else. — The NY Times: … In other words …

Cernig / The Newshoggers:
The West Bank Of The Tigris

Discussion: Associated Press, The Impolitic, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Heretik and The Moderate Voice

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Matthew Yglesias rightly chastises the media for failing to ask whether Harry Reid is substantively right or wrong in his assertion that the war is "lost." But perhaps we should be careful what we wish for. — Here, for instance, is CNN's Kyra Phillips explaining in a surprisingly cutting way that Reid is in fact wrong.

Discussion: TalkLeft and CNN

Matthew Yglesias:
Freak Show — I caught some MSNBC earlier this afternoon …

Discussion: The Impolitic

New York Times:

Candidate Giuliani Shifts His Tone on Immigration — Rudolph W. Giuliani is a long way from Ellis Island. — A decade ago, as mayor of New York, Mr. Giuliani used that historic backdrop to champion the cause of immigrants, calling attacks on people who came here legally a blow to "the heart and soul of America."

Discussion: TalkLeft

CNN:

Blue Angels jet crashes during air show, killing aviator … (CNN) — A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying team crashed into a Beaufort, South Carolina, neighborhood, causing an "enormous fireball" during an air show, authorities said.

Townhall.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Townhall.com sits down with Gov. Romney — MKH: Thanks, Gov. Romney, for taking some time to hang out with us at Townhall today. I'm in D.C. Where are you today? — MR: I'm in Iowa City, IA, which is the home of the University of Iowa, and I just met with 3 or 400 people …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Brad Wong / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Iraqi doctor who disputes official death tolls is denied visa to visit UW — An Iraqi doctor who made international headlines after stating that civilian deaths in the Iraq war far exceeded officially reported numbers is not being allowed to travel to North America to meet other academics.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, About U.S. Politics, The Reaction, Liberty Street and Informed Comment

David Weinberger / The Huffington Post:

Zero Tolerance for Humans — John McCain singing "Bomb bomb bomb, Iran" to the — tune of "Barbara Ann" wasn't even exactly a joke. He — was clarifying a question from the audience that — used euphemisms and circumlocutions to urge him to — bomb Iran. Being famously quirky and ready to blurt

Charles Abbott / Reuters:

Tainted pet food found in livestock feed — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pet food tainted with the chemical melamine was found in feed rations on a California hog farm and may show up on other U.S. farms, state and federal officials said on Friday. — Used in plastics and fertilizer …

Bob Geiger:

The Saturday Cartoons — All cartoons are posted with the artists' express permission to BobGeiger.com. Please visit the following sites to see more work from these fine cartoonists: — Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle — Tony Auth, The Philadelphia Inquirer — Justin Bilicki, City Pulse

Discussion: Firedoglake