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4:40 PM ET, July 18, 2007

Top Items:

After GOP Iraq-Withdrawal Filibuster, Reid Sets Aside Defense Authorization Bill — In an in-your-face response to Republicans continuing to block a full Senate vote on withdrawing American troops from Iraq, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just moments ago set aside …

Discussion: Washington Post, Firedoglake, The Newshoggers, Liberty Street, DownWithTyranny!, AMERICAblog, The American Street and WTF Is It Now??

Greg Sargent / Election Central:

Breaking: Reid Yanks Defense Authorization Bill To Force GOP's Hand — Ratcheting up the stakes in the wake of the GOP's successful blocking of a vote on Iraq withdrawal just moments ago, Harry Reid just announced on the Senate floor that he won't allow a vote on the entire Defense Authorization bill until …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Shakesville, Jules Crittenden, Open Left, Macsmind, Watching Those We Chose, The Daily Background, Taylor Marsh, michellemalkin.com, Mercury Rising, State of the Day, Fact-esque and Washington Post

Think Progress:

Reid Pulls Defense Authorization Bill Off The Floor, Vows To Return To Iraq Redeployment Legislation — After forcing conservatives to stand all-night and filibuster the Levin-Reed Iraq redeployment bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has pulled the entire Defense Authorization bill from consideration on the Senate floor.

Discussion: BobGeiger.com, The Huffington Post, The Next Hurrah, TalkLeft, New York Times, The Gavel, Watching Those We Chose, Tangled Webs and Daily Kos

New York Times:

Democrats Fail to Force Vote on Iraq Pullout — Senate Democrats fell short this morning, after a rare all-night session, in their attempt to force President Bush to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq. — The measure, which called for troops to begin departing within 120 days …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, JustOneMinute, Booman Tribune and The Huffington Post

Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:

Spineless Sages — Top GOP Senators Only Talk Against the War — Anyone searching for the highest forms of invertebrate life need look no further than the floor of the U.S. Senate last week and this. These spineless specimens go by various names — Republican moderates …

Discussion: Election Central, The Coffee House, Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Norwegianity, Middle Earth Journal, The American Street, The Newshoggers, The Carpetbagger Report, Brian Beutler, Daily Kos and State of the Day

Associated Press:

US: Top al-Qaida in Iraq figure captured — BAGHDAD - The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.

Discussion: The Fourth Rail, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, protein wisdom, The Moderate Voice, BBC, The Belmont Club, Cox & Forkum, The Jawa Report, Don Surber, PoliBlog (TM), Abu Aardvark, Taylor Marsh, Outside The Beltway, Gateway Pundit, Riehl World View and Macsmind

Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:

Intelligence Puts Rationale For War on Shakier Ground — The White House faced fresh political peril yesterday in the form of a new intelligence assessment that raised sharp questions about the success of its counterterrorism strategy and judgment in making Iraq the focus of that effort.

Amanda / Think Progress:

Townsend: 'I Don't Know' If Al Qaeda Was In Iraq Before The War — Yesterday's National Intelligence Estimate concluded that al Qaeda remains strong in Iraq and has been energized by the Iraq war. It stated: … Today in an interview with NPR, Homeland Security Advisor Frances Fragos Townsend argued …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Talking Points Memo:

Hot on the... CURIOUS TIMING — Hot on the heels of yesterday's release of the declassified NIE on Al Qaeda, the U.S. military in Baghdad announced today that it has captured a top leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq: … First off, the capture took place two weeks ago but was not announced until today.

Discussion: Associated Press, Angry Bear and The Carpetbagger Report

The Corner:
Re: A Liberal War No More

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and INSTAPUTZ

Philip Elliott / Associated Press:

Edwards ad touts him as a tough guy — CONCORD, N.H. - Elizabeth Edwards tells voters her husband, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, is a tough guy "who can stare the worst in the face and not blink" in an ad set to start airing Wednesday in New Hampshire.

Discussion: Open Left, Chicago Tribune, JustOneMinute, The Hill, Macsmind, Taylor Marsh, New York Times and Wonkette

Mike Dorning / Chicago Tribune:
Democrats pledge support for wide access to abortion

Discussion: New York Post, The Politico, New York Times, MSNBC, PoliPundit.com, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Washington Post

Eric Pooley / Time:
Can Poverty Define John Edwards?

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Bloomberg:

Obama, Clinton Draw Wall Street Donors Amid Bush Disenchantment — Wall Street donors are demonstrating their disenchantment with President George W. Bush and his policies on Iraq and the economy by giving more to Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton than to Republican candidates.

Discussion: New York Times, TIME, MSNBC and Inside Long Island Politics

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Flynt Ready to Implicate Another Senator — Larry King interviewed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt last night on how he linked Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to an alleged prostitution ring. Flynt now says he's got information linking another U.S. Senator to a sex scandal.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Outside The Beltway and Tangled Webs

Lester Munson / ESPN:

Legal odds against Vick just got much longer … A grand jury indicted Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick on Tuesday, which at least partially answers one question that has lingered since the news first broke about an alleged dogfighting operation on property owned by Vick in Virginia: Was Vick involved?

Discussion: Comments From Left Field and Riehl World View

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

R. Milhous Giuliani — With the same rootless confidence that causes people to ignore hurricane warnings, many social conservatives remain in denial about Rudy Giuliani's chances of winning the Republican nomination. — But with three debates and eight months as the Republican front-runner under his belt …

Discussion: NY Daily News, The Corner, Power Line, Salon, DownWithTyranny!, TIME: Swampland, Strategist, National Review, The Atlantic Online, MSNBC and PoliBlog (TM)

John Whitesides / Reuters:

Voters unhappy with Bush; Congress: Reuters poll — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most U.S. voters think the country is on the wrong track and remain deeply unhappy with President George W. Bush and Congress, but still feel good about their finances and optimistic about the future, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Air America Radio

Max Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:

Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour

Carlin Romano / Chronicle of Higher Education:

If We Don't Call Them Names, the Terrorists Win — After the terrorist near misses in London and Glasgow, British officials did the expected. They raised their nation's threat-assessment level. They weighed the balance between civil liberties and new, tougher security measures.

Discussion: Hot Air, Angry Bear and normblog

Rebecca Keeble / NEWS.com.au:

Gore's message loses bite — Decrease Increase - — Submit comment: — ONLY one week after Live Earth, Al Gore's green credentials slipped while hosting his daughter's wedding in Beverly Hills. — Gore and his guests at the weekend ceremony dined on Chilean sea bass - arguably one of the world's most threatened fish species.