memeorandum: GOP contenders set to clash over policy (Jonathan Martin/The Politico)

9:35 AM ET, June 15, 2007

Top Items:

The Politico Fails Journalism 100 — When I was studying journalism way back in the early 1980s, they hammered on us pretty hard about fact checking, verifying sources and not accepting things as fact based on hearsay. I don't think we covered conference calls specifically …

Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:

Reid Faults Petraeus as Not 'in Touch' — Senate Leader Cites General's Upbeat Remarks About Baghdad 'Normalcy' — The Senate majority leader took aim yesterday at the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who until now has received little criticism from Capitol Hill over his statements or performance.

Discussion: QandO and Pajamas Media

Fox News:

Reid Calls Joint Chiefs Chairman 'Incompetent' — WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Thursday that he told liberal bloggers last week that he thinks outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace is "incompetent." — Reid acknowledged similarly disparaging Army …

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Villainous Company, Redstate, Instapundit.com, National Review, The Jawa Report and Salon

Greg Sargent / Election Central:

Obtained: A Tape Of Reid's Conference Call With Bloggers — Reid Did Blast Pace — Okay, as we noted below, we've been trying to find out as much as possible about the conference call that Harry Reid held with liberal bloggers that's created so much noise today. — Now we've obtained a tape of the relevant chunk of the call.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, The Politico, MSNBC, Redstate, Weekly Standard, A Blog For All and TalkLeft

White House:
Press Briefing by Tony Snow

Discussion: First Draft and Talking Points Memo

BarbinMD / Daily Kos:
Politico Continues To Make Up News: Updated

Discussion: Election Central, Iowa Voice, Confederate Yankee, Associated Press, UrbanGrounds, AMERICAblog and TIME

Jules Crittenden:
Put It On A Bumpersticker

Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com, The Democratic Daily and TalkLeft

Scott Wilson / Washington Post:

Hamas to Grant Amnesty to Fatah Leaders — Victorious Hamas gunmen rounded up senior military leaders of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip early Friday, then announced a general amnesty in a sign the Islamic movement is seeking to reconcile with its secular rivals after five days of fierce fighting.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Blue Crab Boulevard

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Takeover by Hamas Illustrates Failure of Bush's Mideast Vision — Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace. "I call on the Palestinian people …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Associated Press, Too Sense and JammieWearingFool

John Podhoretz / New York Post: SELF-RULE? TRY MOB RULE

Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Hamas Takes Over Gaza Security Services

Discussion: Power Line

Ali Waked / Ynetnews:
Hamas: We'll execute Fatah leaders

Discussion: Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Yourish.com, Mere Rhetoric, Jihad Watch, Israellycool and A Blog For All

The Big Pharaoh:
Hamastan: Egypt's New Neighbour

Discussion: JunkYardBlog, New York Post, Captain's Quarters, The Belmont Club and PoliBlog (TM)

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
White House Seems Ready to Let Hamas Seize Gaza

Discussion: LiberalOasis

New York Times:

Senate Leaders Agree to Revive Immigration Bill — Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced on Thursday that they had agreed on a way to revive a comprehensive immigration bill that was pulled off the Senate floor seven days ago. — The majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, MSNBC, QandO, TIME, Associated Press, Ankle Biting Pundits, The RBC, National Review, Right Wing News and Washington Post

Manu Raju / The Hill:

Senate forges immigration deal — Senate leaders on Thursday night announced a deal that breathes life into the bipartisan immigration bill that appeared to be stalled just days ago. — The deal, which would bring the legislation back to the floor as early as next week …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, American Prospect, PoliPundit.com and Washington Post

Maura Reynolds / Los Angeles Times:
Senate strikes deal to revive immigration bill

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:

Delay Denied, Libby Is Seen as Weeks From Prison — I. Lewis Libby Jr., once one of the most powerful men in government, was escorted by federal marshals out a side door in a federal courtroom here Thursday for processing after a judge issued a final ruling that he would have to begin serving …

Discussion: State of the Day

Peter Robinson / National Review:

Andy McCarthy, Mark Levin, Byron York—Somebody! —Help Me Out Here — I'm with Mark Steyn on the deeply annoying superciliousness of Judge "Reggie" Walton, but, layman in all matters of the law that I most certainly am, I'm quite willing to defer to Andy on His Honor's legal obligation …

Discussion: TBogg and Macsmind

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Does FOX News have insider info on Cheney and a pardon?

Discussion: Democrats.com

CBN.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Fred Thompson Pro-Life Video Address — Watch Low Band EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: — CBNNews.com - It's Christmas in June here at The Brody File. Look what we found under the tree. It's a present from "supporters of Fred Thompson" given exclusively to The Brody File.

Discussion: MSNBC, race42008.com and Hot Air

David Ingram / Charlotte Observer:

N.C. pressed on voter listings — State, feds say rolls out of date, push changes; official says no need — RALEIGH —State and federal officials are mounting two broad challenges to the way North Carolina maintains its voter rolls, charging widespread irregularities that include votes cast under the names of dead people.

Anne Broache / CNET News.com:

Bush administration attacks 'shield' for bloggers — WASHINGTON—The Bush administration on Thursday blasted a congressional proposal that would shield a broad swath of news gatherers, including some bloggers, from revealing their confidential sources. — The latest draft of the Free Flow …

Discussion: The American Street

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

GOP contenders set to clash over policy — While Democratic presidential hopefuls already are skirmishing over the fine print of a series of detailed health care plans, the GOP contest has so far been notably lacking in specific policy pronouncements. Republicans have begun butting heads …