Top Items:
Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
Bush denies Congress access to aides — WASHINGTON - President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors. — The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers …
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Chris Good / The Hill:
Conyers demands answers on Libby commutation — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) urged President Bush Sunday to waive executive privilege and let his lawyers testify in Congress on the commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence.
Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
'Scouting' the Hill on Iraq — National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley visited Capitol Hill just before Congress adjourned for the Fourth of July. Meetings with a half-dozen senior Republican senators were clearly intended to extinguish fires set by Sen. Richard Lugar's unexpected break from President Bush's Iraq policy.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Eschaton, Booman Tribune, Hot Air, The Mahablog, Connecting.the.Dots, Middle Earth Journal and Brian Beutler
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David E. Sanger / New York Times:
White House Debate Rises on Iraq Pullback — White House officials fear that the last pillars of political support among Senate Republicans for President Bush's Iraq strategy are collapsing around them, according to several administration officials and outsiders they are consulting.
Discussion:
Chicago Sun Times, CNN, Think Progress, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Post, National Review, IraqSlogger.com, AMERICAblog, The Agonist, The Xsociate Files, Needlenose, Kiko's House, The Moderate Voice, On Deadline, Iowa Voice, Air America Radio, The Anonymous Liberal, Blinq, ParaPundit, Prairie Weather, INDCJournal, The Democratic Daily, Brian Beutler, Brilliant at Breakfast and TPMCafe blogs
Michael J. Totten:
Syria Invades Lebanon — A few days ago Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal quietly reported a limited Syrian invasion of Lebanon. (Via Naharnet.) … This happened immediately before I left town for two days. When I returned I was surprised to find no mention of this whatsoever anywhere else in the media.
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Sean Wilentz / New York Times:
Mr. Cheney's Minority Report — Princeton, N.J. — TWENTY years ago this week, Lt. Col. Oliver North testified for six days before a special joint House and Senate investigating committee. Permitted by the Democratic majority to appear in his bemedaled Marine uniform …
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Scott Lemieux / American Prospect:
The group blog of The American Prospect — THE GREEN LANTERN THEORY OF DOMESTIC POLITICS. To follow up on Ezra's point about Megan McArdle's claim that impeachment proceedings would mean "not having any achievements to show the electorate next year," it's always striking to me the extent …
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Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Job Vacancies At DHS Said To Hurt U.S. Preparedness — A Fourth of Top Positions Not Filled, Report Says — The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a "gaping hole" in the nation's preparedness …
Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Tunneling Near Iranian Nuclear Site Stirs Worry — The sudden flurry of digging seen in recent satellite photos of a mountainside in central Iran might have passed for ordinary road tunneling. But the site is the back yard of Iran's most ambitious and controversial nuclear facility …
Discussion:
ArmsControlWonk, The Moderate Voice, The Newshoggers, JammieWearingFool, The Washington Note, Hot Air and ThreatsWatch
Mike Kaszuba / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Atheists applaud Ellison's views on Cheney, Libby, 9/11 — "You'll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists," he told the group. — Freshman Congressman Keith Ellison was among friends Sunday — in this case, a gathering of atheists — so his support for a fistful …
Discussion:
Let Freedom Ring, Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, Reason Magazine and Hot Air
West Virginia Metro News:
Hoppy's Commentary For Monday — Research shows West Virginia is tilting back toward blue for the 2008 presidential race. — A survey of 400 likely voters completed in May by the political consulting firm of Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates finds that if the election were held …
Russell Berman / New York Sun:
Fired McCain Aides May Be Hired by Thompson — WASHINGTON — The downsizing of Senator McCain's presidential campaign is coming at an opportune time for Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who is likely to jump into the race officially any day now and seeking to build a campaign staff in the early primary states.
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Voters Excited Over '08 Campaign; Tired of It, Too — "I'm afraid we are going to get tired of all this hoop-de-la," said Kathy Shaffer, an elementary school teacher from Clear Lake, Iowa. "It is too much for too long.You get tired of it. You put mute on the commercials."
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
IMMIGRATION AND TERRORISM....Why do Islamic radicals mount so many terrorist attacks in Europe and so few in the United States? After all, we're the Great Satan, aren't we? McClatchy reports: … I wish this could be stapled on the foreheads of Tom Tancredo and every one of his immigration-hating dittoheads in Congress.