memeorandum: Bush Told War Is Harming The GOP (Washington Post)

1:00 PM ET, May 10, 2007

Top Items:

Bush Told War Is Harming The GOP — House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Neptunus Lex, MSNBC, Slate, Associated Press, Middle Earth Journal, Prairie Weather, The Moderate Voice, Brilliant at Breakfast and Martini Revolution

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

War Support Starting To Crumble — The lack of energy from the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has added what might be a final straw to Republican discontent about the progress of the war. A delegation of Congressional Republicans met with President Bush last night at the White House …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Strata-Sphere

Washington Post:

House moves new Iraq funding bill — Measure starts cuts to war spending in July — May 10. — ouse Democrats declared yesterday that they will vote on an Iraq spending bill that could cut funding for the war as early as July, defying a threat from President Bush that he would veto the proposal.

Discussion: WorkingForChange and Confederate Yankee

Politico.com:

Bush meets with wavering Republicans — President Bush made a personal appeal to a small group of wavering Republicans Tuesday at the White House as Democrats ready a two-step spending package to fund the war. — Bush reached out to moderate Republicans to hear their frustrations …

Discussion: Associated Press, Shakesville and Think Progress

New York Times:
G.O.P. Moderates Warn Bush Iraq Must Show Gains

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Iraqi bill demands U.S. troops withdraw

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Heading Right

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog:
BREAKING: Conservative Dems expected to vote with GOP to give …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Minnesota Monitor, Instapundit.com, CorrenteWire, TalkLeft, Gateway Pundit, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice, Wizbang, The Impolitic, JammieWearingFool, Riehl World View and MyDD

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Majority of Iraqi MPs endorse bill demanding timetable for U.S. withdrawal

Discussion: Associated Press and The Jawa Report

New York Times:

Gonzales Seems Confident He Will Stay, Officials Say — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appears increasingly confident that he will survive the crisis over the dismissal of federal prosecutors, as White House aides who view him as a liability see little point in trying to persuade President Bush …

Discussion: TalkLeft, TPMmuckraker, Los Angeles Times, The Carpetbagger Report, On Deadline, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Daily Kos, TIME: Swampland and AMERICAblog

Washington Post:

Number of Fired Prosecutors Grows — Dismissals Began Earlier Than Justice Dept. Has Said — The former U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., Todd P. Graves, said yesterday that he was asked to step down from his job by a senior Justice Department official in January 2006 …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Shakesville, Think Progress, CorrenteWire, Norwegianity, On Deadline, TalkLeft, TPMmuckraker and www.kansascity.com

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Gonzales on Graves — Last night, we reported that Todd Graves …

Discussion: The Next Hurrah and Talking Points Memo

Laura McGann / TPMmuckraker:
Details Emerge on Graves' Firing: DOJ Told Different Stories to Graves and Sen. Bond

Discussion: New York Times, The Next Hurrah and Talking Points Memo

Guardian:

Blair quits as prime minister — Matthew Tempest and agencies — Tony Blair today announced he was stepping down after 10 years as prime minister and 13 as Labour leader. — The prime minister told a crowd of supporters in Trimdon Labour club he would stand down as PM on June 27.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Washington Note, Outside The Beltway, Associated Press, Iain Dale's Diary, Sister Toldjah, Tim Worstall, Donklephant, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Mahablog

Yahoo! News: World:

Britain's Blair says he is resigning — TRIMDON, England - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that he will step down as prime minister on June 27, after a decade in office in which he brokered peace in Northern Ireland and followed the United States to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Discussion: Times of London, News Bloggers Blog, Redstate, The Moderate Voice and Shakesville

Alan Cowell / NYT > International:
Blair Says He Will Leave Office in June

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Kevin Sullivan / Washington Post:
Britain's Blair Announces His Resignation

Discussion: Obsidian Wings and MSNBC

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:
Today, the beginning of the end

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and AMERICAblog

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:

The Diyala Salvation Front — Tribal leaders in the troubled province organize against al Qaeda — Map of southern Diyala. Click map to view. — In March, we noted the successful model of the Anbar Salvation Council will very likely be replicated elsewhere in regions where al Qaeda has established bases of operation.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Earth Times Online …, The Strata-Sphere, Weekly Standard, QandO and Confederate Yankee

Mohammed Fadhil / NY Daily News:

A Baghdad plea: U.S. should stay and fight — Be Our Guest — I wasn't surprised when I saw Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, appear on Al Jazeera to announce America's defeat last week, not long after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did.

Discussion: Redstate and Gateway Pundit

The Smoking Gun:

Uncle Sam Probes Michael Moore — Treasury Department investigating director's unauthorized Cuba trip — Director Michael Moore is being investigated by the Treasury Department for traveling to Cuba in violation of a U.S. trade embargo. In a May 2 letter, the Office …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Debbie Schlussel, Pajamas Media and On Deadline

David Germain / Associated Press:
Michael Moore faces U.S. Treasury probe

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Hot Air

NYT > National:

Giuliani Plans to Publicly Embrace Abortion Rights — After months of conflicting signals on abortion, Rudolph W. Giuliani is planning to offer a forthright affirmation of his support for abortion rights in public forums, television appearances and interviews in the coming days …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Captain's Quarters, Townhall.com, The Democratic Daily, Chicago Tribune, Reason Magazine, TAPPED, Balloon Juice, The Carpetbagger Report, No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Wing News, Hot Air, Riehl World View, Vox Popoli, ScrappleFace, theGarance.com, TalkLeft and Washington Monthly

ABCNEWS:
Romney's Wife Gave Money to Planned Parenthood

Discussion: TIME, GOPProgress.com, Shakesville, Riehl World View, PoliBlog (TM) and Balloon Juice

Faiz / Think Progress:

LaHood: Bush 'Surprised,' 'Sobered' Over GOP Frustration About Iraq — This morning on CNN, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) — one of 11 Republican members to have recently visited the White House and plead with President Bush to change course in Iraq — described the meeting as "unvarnished …

Discussion: CNN

Chicago Tribune:
GOP pressures Bush on war

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Roger L. Simon / Pajamas Media:

Film Review: "Islam vs. Islamism" — Martyn Burke's documentary "Islam vs. Islamism" (produced with Frank Gaffney and Alex Alexiev) was commissioned by PBS for its "American Crossroads" series, but never shown by the network. Quality control or censorship?

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Classical Values and Townhall.com

John Sullivan / SWJ Blog:

The Missing Mission: Expeditionary Police for Peacekeeping and Transnational Stability — On Wednesday, April 11, 2007 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg if some of the city's police could be deployed with the U.N. for peacekeeping missions.

Discussion: INTEL DUMP and Thomas P.M. Barnett

Roxana Tiron / The Hill:

Defense authorization bill fails to address habeas corpus for detainees — The new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee dealt a blow to the human-rights community by failing to include provisions to overhaul GOP legislation governing military tribunals in the 2008 defense authorization bill.

Discussion: MyDD, The Impolitic, The Moderate Voice and Think Progress