Top Items:
Washington Post:
Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable — Compromise Bill in Works After Veto Override Fails — President Bush and congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill yesterday, with Democrats offering the first major concession: an agreement to drop their demand for a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Carpetbagger Report, Right Wing Nut House, Shakesville, Oliver Willis, Riehl World View, DownWithTyranny!, The Reaction, Big Brass Blog, State of the Day, The Left Coaster, Donklephant, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, TIME: Swampland, The Democratic Daily and Tennessee Guerilla Women
RELATED:
Jonathan Singer / MyDD:
Not the Headline We Want on Iraq — The headline on the front page of tomorrow's edition of The Washington Post reads as follows: "Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable". Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray have the rest of the story for the paper.
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Groping For Agreement — Democrats and Republicans began …
Groping For Agreement — Democrats and Republicans began …
Discussion:
The Mahablog
Reuters:
Senior al Qaeda leader killed in Iraq: ministry — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed the head of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-led militant group that has claimed many major attacks in the country, Iraq's deputy interior minister said on Thursday.
RELATED:
Pajamas Media:
Another Al-Qaeda Top Leader Down in Iraq? — Map of the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq — Iraqi authorities announced that the leader of al-Qaeda's political front organization the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was killed in the Ghazaliya district in western Baghdad this morning.
Discussion:
Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Gateway Pundit, The Belmont Club, Riehl World View and Barcepundit
New York Times:
Justice Dept. Announces Inquiry Into Its Hiring — The Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into whether a former senior adviser to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales improperly tried to fill vacancies for career prosecutors at the agency with Republicans loyal to the Bush administration …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, TPMmuckraker, WSJ.com, Bench Conference, Norwegianity, Think Progress, All Spin Zone, The RBC and Mirror of Justice
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Ex-Aide to Gonzales Accused Of Bias — Justice Department Scrutinizes Role of Politics in Hiring — The Justice Department has launched an internal investigation into whether Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's former White House liaison illegally took party affiliation into account …
Arnold I. Burns / New York Times:
Two Parties, One Law — AS a former Justice Department official …
Two Parties, One Law — AS a former Justice Department official …
Discussion:
WSJ.com
Dean Barnett / Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog:
The Conservatism of Doubt in Action — Applying his well-known conservatism of doubt, Andrew Sullivan made the following post earlier this evening: … The Dateline Hollywood article Andrew links to includes quotes like: … As if this wasn't enough of a hint that the whole thing was a gag …
RELATED:
Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:
ANDREW SULLIVAN FALLS FOR PRANK STORY
ANDREW SULLIVAN FALLS FOR PRANK STORY
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / The Caucus:
Bush: "I'm the Commander Guy" — WASHINGTON, May 2-And you thought he was still "the decider." — President Bush coined a new nickname for himself — ''the commander guy" — on Wednesday, as he criticized Congressional Democrats in a speech to the annual gathering of the Associated General Contractors …
CNN:
No safe way for U.S. to leave Iraq, experts warn … (CNN) — Pulling U.S. forces from Iraq could trigger catastrophe, CNN analysts and other observers warn, affecting not just Iraq but its neighbors in the Middle East, with far-reaching global implications.
RELATED:
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The Politico: Exhibit A for our broken political press — This week, the Bush administration sought vastly increased powers to spy on the telephone conversations of Americans, and then threatened to begin spying again illegally and without warrants. It was revealed that Condoleezza Rice …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
New York Times:
Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Draft Oil Bill — Kurdish and Sunni Arab officials expressed deep reservations on Wednesday about the draft version of a national oil law and related legislation, misgivings that could derail one of the benchmark measures of progress in Iraq laid down by President Bush.
James Pethokoukis / U.S. News & World Report:
Productivity—Not Stock Market—Shows the New Economy Lives — The Dow Jones industrials may already be back in record territory, but the S&P 500 has yet to return to its March 2000 high of 1527, though it's moved near the 1500 level. And the Nasdaq, of course, is still off some 50 percent from its 2000 high.
Discussion:
Daniel W. Drezner
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
G.O.P. Contenders Ponder What to Say About Bush — As they gather Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for their first debate, the Republican presidential candidates are thrilled at the chance to associate themselves with Reagan. But they may not be able to escape …
New York Times:
Rice to Meet With Syrian Foreign Minister — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to meet with Syria's foreign minister here later today, United States officials said. The meeting would be the first diplomatic contact at such a high level between the two countries in years.
newsinfo.iu.edu:
Content analysis of O'Reilly's rhetoric finds spin to be a 'factor' — Commentator uses name-calling more than once every seven seconds in 'Talking Points Memo' — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Bill O'Reilly may proclaim at the beginning of his program that viewers are entering the …