memeorandum: Trial Balloon For Libby Pardon Falls Flat...Again (Christy Hardin Smith/Firedoglake)

6:45 PM ET, July 2, 2007

Top Items:

From the White House — The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected Lewis Libby's request to remain free on bail while pursuing his appeals for the serious convictions of perjury and obstruction of justice. As a result, Mr. Libby will be required to turn himself …

Discussion: Firedoglake, NO QUARTER, The Next Hurrah, The American Mind, The Agitator and The Poor Man Institute

CNN:

Bush commutes Libby's prison sentence — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush has commuted the prison term of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who faced 30 months in prison after a federal court convicted him of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Political Radar, Blogs of War and The Reaction

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

BREAKING: Libby Motion For Release On Bond Pending Appeal — DENIED — Breaking news from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion issued just moments ago, Judges Sentelle, Henderson and Tatel say the following: … It it a per curiam opinion issued on July 2, 2007, and initialled by all three of the judges.

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Next Hurrah, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Anonymous Liberal, Wonkette, Taylor Marsh, Sister Toldjah, The Garlic, Democrats.com and Riehl World View

CNN Political Ticker:

Appeals court rejects Libby's bid for bail — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A federal appeals court Monday rejected former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby's request to remain free on bond while appealing his March conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Outside The Beltway, Shakesville and The Reaction

Cary O'Reilly / Bloomberg:

Libby, Ex-Cheney Aide, Must Go to Jail During Appeal — Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, must go to prison while appealing his conviction for obstructing a CIA leak probe, a U.S. appeals court said. — Libby may be behind bars within weeks …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Reuters:

Appeals court won't delay Libby prison term — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Monday lost his bid to delay serving his 2 1/2-year prison sentence while he appeals his conviction in the CIA leak case. — Conservatives have pressured President George W. Bush …

Discussion: Salon and Grasping Reality …

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:

Court Denies Request to Delay Libby Sentence — A federal appeals court ruled today that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, must report to prison shortly to begin serving his 30-month sentence for lying to federal investigators about his role in leaking a CIA officer's identity.

Discussion: Redstate, Abovethelaw.com, From the Desk … and BeldarBlog

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
LIBBY LOSES ANOTHER APPEAL....If Scooter Libby is counting …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and The Debate Link

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake: BREAKING: MSNBC Reports Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
AP: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence

Discussion: KnoxViews and Daily Kos

CNN Political Ticker: Bush commutes Libby sentence

ABCNEWS:

McCain Shakes Up Campaign — McCain, Trailing in Fundraising and Polls, Shakes Up 2008 Presidential Campaign — John McCain's campaign, trailing top Republican rivals in money and polls, is undergoing a significant reorganization with staff cuts in every department, officials with knowledge of the shake-up said Monday.

Discussion: The Politico, Reason Magazine, Right Wing News, The Democratic Daily, PoliPundit.com and Outside The Beltway

Ryan Sager / Latest Politics:

McCain Watch: Watch This Space — Watch this space, as we'll be coming to you live with the details of today's 2 p.m. McCain conference call, where we should find out his 2nd quarter fundraising total and hear a bit about these staff trims... 2:00: Pre-call, I hear: The campaign …

Discussion: Reason Magazine and Townhall.com

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
McCain Camp Raises $11.2 Million in 2Q

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and The Carpetbagger Report

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
McCain shakes up campaign after low cash

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and The American Mind

Hassan Butt / Daily Mail:

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist — When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network - a series of British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology - I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, WorldNetDaily, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Right Wing News

Opinion Journal:
Jihad in Britain — The terrorists don't seem to care that Tony Blair is gone.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, The Radio Equalizer and GINA COBB

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
THE LONDON CAR-BOMB PLOT WAS DESIGNED TO KILL WOMEN.

Discussion: Hot Air, Shakesville, Commentary and Power Line

Bernhard / Moon of Alabama:

Gordon's Source on Iran — (updated below) — Michael Gordon (NYT co-writer of Judith Miller) has another hate-Iran piece in today's NYT: U.S. Ties Iranians to Iraq Attack That Killed G.I.'s … Glenn Greenwald points out that Gordon's only source for this piece is a "military spokesman" Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Firedoglake and Hullabaloo

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Michael Gordon trains his stenographer weapons on Iran

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Democratic Daily and TalkLeft

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. Ties Iranians to Iraq Attack That Killed G.I.'s

Discussion: CNN, The Strata-Sphere, Commentary, QandO, Donklephant, Daily Kos, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Prairie Weather and The American Street

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:

Staying Calm and Carrying On — The worrying aspect of the British terror-rash is that it's obviously an amateur effort, inspired rather than organized by al Qaeda. This means we are likely to face more of these things, but that most of them are not going to be massively successful.

Discussion: The Reaction

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ALMOST LAUGHABLE....There's been ample discussion about the …

Discussion: The Newshoggers and The Carpetbagger Report

isna.ir:

ISNA - Tehran — TEHRAN, July 02 (ISNA)-Writer, producer and director, Michael Moore is to come to Iran for the screening of his new production SICKO in the first international documentary film festival held here. — This festival will be held from the 15th to the 19th of October in Tehran.

Discussion: Kamangir, Hot Air and theneweditor.com

Austan Goolsbee / Slate:
Michael Moore and the Beige Bomber

Discussion: Ezra Klein, EconLog and The Sideshow

Jonathan Singer / MyDD:

Obama Raises $10.3 Million Online in Second Quarter — You're reading these numbers first here at MyDD. — During the second quarter, Barack Obama brought in $10.3 million dollars online, or about a third of the $32.5 million he raised overall this quarter. This ups his total online haul for the year to $17.2 million.

Discussion: Obsidian Wings, New York Times and Hotline On Call

John Solomon / Washington Post:
Obama Takes Lead In Money Raised

Discussion: Washington Times, Bloomberg, Captain's Quarters, Los Angeles Times, Cadillac Tight, The Carpetbagger Report, The Moderate Voice, Obama HQ, The Atlantic Online, CNN, National Review, Washington Monthly, JammieWearingFool, MSNBC, Townhall.com and The Politico

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

Trial Balloon For Libby Pardon Falls Flat...Again … Good lord, if they are reaching all the way back to the Whiskey Rebellion for some obscure out for Libby, then it sounds to me like the pardon beg is falling on entirely deaf ears in the West Wing. Maybe the rumors about Fred Fielding keeping …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and NPR

Faiz / Think Progress: Wilson: Proponents Of Libby Pardon Are 'Accessories To An Ongoing Crime'

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:

Peering Inside Bush's Head — It's open season on psychoanalyzing President Bush. — The Washington Post this morning unfurls a 3,000-word attempt to figure out what's going on inside Bush's head as his presidency collapses around him. A particular mystery: How he is able to remain …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Middle Earth Journal, TBogg, The Carpetbagger Report and Washington Monthly