Top Items:
Susan Ferrechio / CQ.com:
Democrats Set Stage for Next War Debate — Before deciding to blink in the long standoff over war spending and troop withdrawal, House Democrats convinced themselves President Bush is scoring only a short-term victory. — The House is expected to send to the Senate late Thursday …
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Matt Stoller / MyDD:
The Capitulation Bill: "Obviously it's a good move" — The crazy thing about the fight is that Democratic insiders are convinced that capitulation is the right strategy. They actually believe that this will put pressure on the Republicans in the fall, and that standing up to Bush is a bad idea.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
House Democrats bracing for unpalatable Iraq vote — House Democrats head into their last vote on the Iraq supplemental budget today with a sense of resignation, with fewer than half expected to vote in favor of a bill that gives President Bush nearly everything he wants.
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
News Analysis: On War Funds, Democrats Saw No Option but to Cede Ground to Bush — Congressional contortions over the Iraq spending bill could end up with most House Democrats momentarily occupying the position they were so desperate to vacate: the minority.
New York Times:
EX-JUSTICE AIDE ADMITS POLITICS AFFECTED HIRING — A former top Justice Department aide testified on Wednesday that she had "crossed the line" in considering the political beliefs of applicants for nonpartisan legal jobs and suggested that earlier testimony by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales …
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Washington Post:
Goodling Says She 'Crossed the Line' — Ex-Justice Aide Criticizes Gonzales While Admitting to Basing Hires on Politics — A former senior aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales leveled serious new accusations against him and his deputy yesterday, describing an "uncomfortable" …
Discussion:
PoliBlog (TM), At-Largely, TPMCafe blogs, Hullabaloo, TIME: Swampland, Bring it On! and the talking dog
Keith Olbermann / MSNBC:
The entire government has failed us on Iraq — For the president, and the majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party—there is only blame for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal — SPECIAL COMMENT — A Special Comment about the Democrats' deal …
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Dale Franks / QandO:
QUESTIONS FOR OUR LIBERAL FRIENDS — Bruce is a big boy, and certainly doesn't need me to help him out, but let's talk about Iraq for a moment. Because I have questions for people like Oliver Willis to which I'm curious to hear the answers. And I'm not asking in a snarky way. I'm honestly interested.
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Susan Bell / Scotsman:
Raid on spy's home 'reveals details of Chirac's secret £30m bank account' — LONG-STANDING rumours that the former French president Jacques Chirac holds a secret multi-million-euro bank account in Japan appear to have been confirmed by files seized from the home of a senior spy.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Clinton Camp Resists Aide's Advice to Skip Iowa — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has considered — and rejected — a plan to stop competing in Iowa, the traditional kickoff state in the nominating process, and to concentrate instead on later states …
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Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:
Morgue Data Show Increase In Sectarian Killings in Iraq — More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again.
Associated Press:
U.S. military continues to discharge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing — WASHINGTON: Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because they were gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuable language specialists go.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Improvement in Iraq: Trust Joe Klein and his secret sources — Q. If you're a Bush administration official and you want to create a prominent headline in Time Magazine proclaiming what great improvement there is in Iraq, what do you do? — A. Have someone with a shiny military uniform …
Gideon Rachman:
The collapse of Europe — If you happen to be passing though Malibu next month, why not pop into an intriguing-sounding conference at Pepperdine University on "The Collapse of Europe". One of the early sessions is entitled - "Eurabia: Is Muslim domination of Europe inevitable?"
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Dems' panel chiefs cash in on bundling — Powerful Democratic chairmen and subcommittee chairmen have relied on lobbyists to raise money during the first three months of this year, according to recent fundraising reports, which cast light on the strong opposition to lobbying reform