Senators Block Vote on Gonzales  —  The Senate yesterday rejected a bid to conduct a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, as Republicans declined to defend the embattled presidential confidant but rejected the effort as a political stunt.

Military May Pull the Plug On Musharraf  —  WASHINGTON — As a political crisis boils in Pakistan, American analysts both inside and outside the government are expressing new doubts that President Musharraf will be able to hold onto power through the summer.

Approval of Congress lowest in a decade  —  Only about a quarter of Americans approve of how it's doing its job, a poll shows; most see 'business as usual.'  —  WASHINGTON — Fueled by disappointment at the pace of change since Democrats assumed the majority on Capitol Hill …

Rivals Warn Sarkozy Could Face Dissent  —  PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy appears to have won a mandate for change after his party swept first-round parliamentary elections, and he is picking up speed in his plans to overhaul France's welfare state.  But rivals say he should watch out.

Rather Attacks Couric: 'Dumb It Down, Tart It Up'  —  As already noted on NewsBusters, former CBS anchor Dan Rather appeared on Monday's edition of "Morning Joe" and lobbied for a "a strategic withdrawal from Iraq."  He also found time to twice bash his "Evening News" successor Katie Couric for dumbing down and "tarting up" the news.

David Chase speaks!  —  What do you do when your TV world ends?  You go to dinner, then keep quiet.  Sunday night, "Sopranos" creator David Chase took his wife out for dinner in France, where he's fled to avoid "all the Monday morning quarterbacking" about the show's finale.

Joe Klein's stirring defense of Lewis Libby  —  It is difficult to recall a single episode which has been more revealing of our political culture than the collective Beltway horror over the plight of the poor, maltreated and persecuted (and convicted felon) Lewis Libby.

Judges Say U.S. Can't Hold Man as 'Combatant'  —  The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled yesterday that the president may not declare civilians in this country to be "enemy combatants" and have the military hold them indefinitely.  The ruling was a stinging rejection …

High-profile Tancredo presidential campaign staffer outed  —  Tyler Whitney, the webmaster for the right-wing antigay Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign, has been outed by the Michigan gay paper Between the Lines.  I had reporter Todd Heywood on the show today.

Anti-Blogger?  Anti-Urban?  Racist?  —  To those of you out there who have called me these names and more, here is my response:  —  1.-Nowhere in my first post did I say I was "anti-blogging".  Quite to the contrary, I said to bloggers who want to take the Democratic Party back into the big tent, "God bless you and thank you."

American Company Hosting Taliban Websites  —  A Georgia based company continues to host two official websites for the Taliban after being warned numerous times that providing business services to the Islamist group is against U.S. law.  The 'Voice of Jihad' websites are in Arabic and in English.