memeorandum: Separation of Church and State and Tax Exemptions (Politics/Washington Post)

6:15 PM ET, June 1, 2007

Top Items:

Too Bad — President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder. — What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting …

Paul Mirengoff / News Bloggers Blog:

Buyer's remorse — Yesterday, Cenk Uygur wrote this line: "Come on, Mr. Conservative-I-support-the-Bush- administration-no-matter-what, you don't even believe that." As anyone with a passing familiarity of current events realizes, however, there are essentially no conservatives who support the Bush administration across-the-board.

Discussion: Power Line, Heading Right and The American Mind

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

The End Of The Bushes? — Peggy Noonan, one of my favorite columnists and always a great read, today turns her substantial rhetorical guns on what she sees as the biggest threat to the Republican Party — George Bush. Accusing him of following his father in squandering a great political inheritance …

Discussion: Heading Right, The American Mind, Firedoglake and politburo diktat 2.0

Mary Katharine Ham / Townhall.com:

RNC Outsources Phone Solicitation to DNC, Apparently — Well, either that, or the WSJ editorial board is manning the phones. — You heard yesterday that the RNC canned its in-house phone bank employees, partly due to an estimated 40% drop in small donations.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Right Wing Nut House, IMAO, Hot Air, BLACKFIVE and Washington Times

Karen Tumulty / Time:

Obama's Inconvenient Truths — Presidential-primary politics tends to be played like a game of connect the dots, with all the would-be nominees running from interest group to interest group, knowing and delivering precisely what each constituency is expecting to hear.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org and MSNBC

Jodi Kantor / New York Times:
One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Gun Toting Liberal™ and Brendan Nyhan

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
The Candor of Obama — You want to know why I can't stop myself being impressed?

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Taylor Marsh

Adam Zagorin / Time:

Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor — In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for power is often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Discussion: TIME: Swampland

Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Ex-Governor Says Affidavit Shows Politics in Bribe Case

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Thomas B. Edsall / Huffington Post:

Conservative Catholics Organize To Sink Rudy — The early success of Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid has provoked a groundswell of opposition from disparate forces including conservative Catholics, remnants of Pat Buchanan's presidential campaigns and regional political operatives seeking to break into the Republican firmament.

Discussion: Election Central, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, The Carpetbagger Report and AMERICAblog

Matt Taibbiposted / Rolling Stone:
Giuliani: Worse Than Bush

Discussion: TalkLeft, Prose Before Hos, Wonkette, The Rachel Maddow Show and The Sideshow

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:

RNC faces donor falloff, fires solicitors — The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, The Washington Times has learned. — Faced with an estimated 40 percent falloff …

Discussion: Blog of the Moderate Left, Shakesville, The American Mind, MSNBC and Wonkette

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Firing The Collectors: Desperation Or Efficiency?

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

U.S. Not Pushing for Attack on Iran, Rice Says — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought today to minimize any sense of division within the Bush administration over Iran after the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency delivered a pointed new warning against what he called the …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Rice Insists Cheney Supports Diplomacy for Iran

Discussion: Balloon Juice and My Two Sense

Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:

Senior Bush Aide Dan Bartlett to Resign — White House Counselor Among President's Longest Serving Advisers — White House counselor Dan Bartlett, one of President Bush's top aides and among his longest serving, said today he will resign in July,becoming the latest administration official …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, The Newshoggers, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakesville, Wonkette, The Populist, Outside The Beltway, TIME, The Next Hurrah, The Heretik and TalkLeft

Politics / Washington Post:

Separation of Church and State and Tax Exemptions — Florida evangelist Bill Keller says he was making a spiritual — not political — statement when he warned the 2.4 million subscribers to his Internet prayer ministry that "if you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!"

Discussion: Bring it On!, The Carpetbagger Report and Shakesville

Jonah Goldberg / National Review Online:

Better Off Fred? — Here are just a few little-known facts about Fred Thompson: — Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson. — Though Fred Thompson left the Senate in 2003, Harry Reid still hasn't stopped wetting his pants.

Discussion: alicublog, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, All Spin Zone, Blue Crab Boulevard, Brainster's Blog and IMAO

Rasmussen Reports:

Number of Republicans in U.S. Hits New Low, Number of Democrats Also Decline — For the fourth straight month, the number of people identifying themselves as Republicans has decreased. For the third straight month, the number of people identifying themselves as Democrats has also decreased (see history).

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, The Moderate Voice, MyDD and The Left End of the Dial v2.0

Tony Paterson / The Independent:

German brain drain at highest level since 1940s — For a nation that invented the term "guest worker" for its immigrant labourers, Germany is facing the sobering fact that record numbers of its own often highly-qualified citizens are fleeing the country to work abroad in the biggest mass exodus for 60 years.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Neptunus Lex and Cato-at-liberty

Art Jester / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Holsinger's church role scrutinized — HAND IN METHODIST RULINGS RAISES CONCERN IN GAY COMMUNITY — The nomination of University of Kentucky professor Dr. James W. Holsinger as U.S. surgeon general has come under fire from groups that fear his actions as a high-ranking official in the United Methodist Church indicate he is anti-gay.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, AMERICAblog, Daily Kos, Think Progress and Democratic Convention or Bust!

Ilan Wurman / The Hill:

PETA seeks tax breaks for vegetarians — Citing the need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on congressional leaders to give vegetarians a tax break. — In a letter sent Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) …

Discussion: Bring it On!, QandO, Reason Magazine, Air America Radio and Club for Growth