memeorandum: Stay-the-Course Plus — Obama, Romney and Foreign Engagement on Steroids (Fred Hiatt/Washington Post)

12:05 PM ET, June 4, 2007

Top Items:

The Democrats' Second 2008 Presidential Debate — The following is a transcript of the 2008 Democratic primary presidential debate hosted by CNN. The participants were Senator Joesph Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Rep. Dennis Kucinich …

Discussion: CNN, Booman Tribune, The Carpetbagger Report, QandO, THE CUNNING REALIST and ImmigrationProf Blog

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Debate — I think the question I enjoyed the most in the Democratic debate was the one where Wolf asked them all what they would do if they were tied to a bed naked with a ticking time bomb and a bunch of terrorists rushed into the room and started kibitzing among themselves about where to get the best Botox in Miami.

Discussion: MaxSpeak, TalkLeft, Norwegianity, Shakesville, The Sideshow and State of the Day

Washington Post:

Democrats Focus on Iraq In Contentious Second Debate — Democratic presidential candidates clashed sharply over Iraq in the second debate of the campaign Sunday night, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) rejecting criticism from former senator John Edwards …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Times, CNN, Don Surber, Associated Press, DownWithTyranny!, The Caucus and Sister Toldjah

David Yepsen / Associated Press:
Top three emerge as winners in debate

Discussion: The Politico, Hotline On Call, The Reaction, State of the Day and Central Sanity

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Defining Democrats And Herself

Discussion: Eschaton

Peter S. Canellos / Boston Globe:
Clinton borrows page from husband's playbook

Discussion: TIME

CNN: CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

New York Times:

Commanders Say Push in Baghdad Is Short of Goal — Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Moderate Voice, The Strata-Sphere, The Carpetbagger Report, KnoxViews, AMERICAblog, The Heretik, Eunomia, Multi Medium, The Road to Surfdom, State of the Day, Brian Beutler, Prairie Weather, On Deadline, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Jules Crittenden, Rising Hegemon and Crunchy Con

Fester / The Newshoggers:
The Surge's Pre-September Evaluation — Not Working

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Politico Playbook: The 'A' word — Good Monday morning. As Iraq dominated last night's Democratic debate, expect CNN's Wolf Blitzer to burrow in hard on immigration when he gets the Republicans on his set on Tuesday night. Sen. John McCain make a preemptive strike this morning at a hotel in Coral Gables …

Discussion: Power Line and Captain's Quarters

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:

Backers of Immigration Bill More Optimistic — After a week at home with their constituents, the Senate architects of a delicate immigration compromise are increasingly convinced that they will hold together this week to pass an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws …

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, Think Progress, Macsmind, TIME and The Strata-Sphere

Christopher Cooper / Wall Street Journal:

Thompson's First Test: Raising Funds Fast — After a Late Start, — Campaign Targets — Web, Fence-Sitters — As a late entry into the crowded, expensive, presidential campaign, Fred Thompson's first big test of viability will be his ability to raise money quickly.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, New York Times, Hot Air and Blue Crab Boulevard

Holly Bailey / Newsweek:
Thompson and the 'Laziness' Issue

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Heretik and Alarming News

New York Times:

Papers Portray Plot as More Talk Than Action — The plot as painted by law enforcement officials was cataclysmic: A home-grown Islamic terrorist had in mind detonating fuel storage tanks and pipelines and setting fire to Kennedy International Airport, not to mention a substantial swath of Queens.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Middle Earth Journal, Taylor Marsh, The Carpetbagger Report, Los Angeles Times, skippy the bush kangaroo and Sister Toldjah

Tom Incantalupo / Newsday:
JFK TERROR PLOT: three under arrest

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Brilliant at Breakfast

Toby Harnden / Telegraph:
Plot to blow up JFK is 'tip of the iceberg'

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs and JammieWearingFool

Aman Ali / The Hill:

Gingrich hints again of White House run — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) fueled further speculation Sunday about entering the Republican race for president by taking shots at the Bush administration. — "The government is not functioning," Gingrich said on Fox News.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Political Radar and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
Hatch Act Hatchet Job

Discussion: Firedoglake and Brian Beutler

The Blotter:

New Video Shows Missing U.S. Soldiers' ID Cards — Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report: — An Iraqi insurgent group says it has killed two missing American soldiers who they said had been captured alive. According to a full translation of a ten-minute video released by the group earlier today …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Jules Crittenden

CNN:
Missing soldiers' IDs shown on insurgent Web site

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:

Islamic Groups Named in Hamas Funding Case — Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas. — Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Tammy Bruce, Jihad Watch and Power Line

Gateway Pundit:

Remembering the Massacre at Tiananmen Square- 18 Yrs Ago Today — On June 4, 1989, hundreds of innocent civilians were shot dead by the Chinese army during a bloody military operation to crush a democratic uprising in Peking's (Beijing) Tiananmen Square. — Tanks rumbled through …

Discussion: BBC and QandO

Real Clear Politics:

Sandy Berger and the Clinton Cover-Up - Why It Matters — On May 17th, Sandy Berger, President Bill Clinton's National Security Adviser, voluntarily gave up his law license and with it the right to practice law. That is a stunning move for an accomplished lawyer, one of the nation's most influential public officials.

Discussion: Moonbattery, Jules Crittenden, Betsy's Page, Carry on America and Power Line

Luke Harding / Guardian:

Russia's missiles to target Europe — Kremlin warning on eve of G8 as gulf widens over US defence shield plans — President Vladimir Putin yesterday declared that a new arms race and cold war with the west had begun and announced that Russia would retaliate against US missile defence plans …

Discussion: Mirror On America, Michael P.F. van der Galiën and JammieWearingFool

David Gower / Times of London: 'I'm a pure and absolute democrat. It's a tragedy that I'm the only one'

Fred Hiatt / Washington Post:

Stay-the-Course Plus — Obama, Romney and Foreign Engagement on Steroids — You might expect the candidates in this presidential election to want to lead the nation in radically new foreign policy directions. The incumbent, after all, is widely perceived to have driven the country off a cliff.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and TalkLeft

The Palmetto Scoop:

Scarborough has an "Imus moment" — Presidential candidate Fred Thompson's second-and-current wife Jeri, who is considered by some to be a "trophy wife," was the topic of an interesting conversation on Friday's Morning Joe radio talk show, which aired live on MSNBC.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Michelle Malkin

CNN Political Ticker:

Columnist/Author released after being arrested in Spin Room — MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN ) - Columnist and author Eric Alterman has been released after being arrested Sunday night inside the debate spin room. He was charged with criminal trespass after police say he refused repeated orders to leave.