memeorandum: Read It and Weep — EVEN BUSH'S INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS THE WAR … (Fred Kaplan/Slate)

11:40 AM ET, July 18, 2007

Top Items:

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: TalkLeft, The Newshoggers, The Carpetbagger Report, State of the Day and Daily Kos

Think Progress:

Live-Blogging The Senate Iraq Filibuster — [ThinkProgress is at the Capitol building, live-blogging the all-night conservative filibuster of Iraq withdrawal legislation.] — 12:27 AM: 1,000 people gathered outside the Capitol tonight for a rally and candlelight vigil.

Discussion: The Gavel, Firedoglake, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, BobGeiger.com, Redstate, Jules Crittenden, The Politico, culturekitchen, Open Left, Norwegianity, TalkLeft, Pam's House Blend, Hullabaloo and Sister Toldjah

Washington Post:

Senators Pull All-Nighter For Debate On Iraq War — GOP Denounces Effort As Political Theatrics — Democrats rolled out cots and ordered pizzas as they settled in for a marathon Senate debate on Iraq last night that featured numerous speeches but little chance of getting any closer to resolving the stalemate over how to end the war.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Media Matters for America, Hot Air, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Carpetbagger Report, Reuters, Bark Bark Woof Woof, GINA COBB, Firedoglake, The Democratic Daily and AMERICAblog

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Democrats Lack Support to Force Vote on Pullout

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, Jules Crittenden, The Crone Speaks and Watching Those We Chose

Greg Sargent / Election Central:
Lugar, Domenici Will Oppose Withdrawal Bill, Keeping Them In GOP WINO Caucus

Discussion: Firedoglake

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: Talking Points Memo, Macsmind, Cox & Forkum and Scared Monkeys

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail: Islamic State of Iraq - an al Qaeda front

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
US Captures Top AQI Figure

Discussion: BBC, USA Today and The Nose On Your Face

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
U.S. captures "leader" of Islamic State of Iraq

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Don Surber and Gateway Pundit

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.

Discussion: New York Times, The Atlantic Online, Left I on the News, PoliBlog (TM), The Heretik, The Carpetbagger Report, the talking dog, Balloon Juice, Prairie Weather, Watching Those We Chose, Daily Kos and MSNBC

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

Read It and Weep — EVEN BUSH'S INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS THE WAR IN IRAQ IS MAKING US LESS SAFE AT HOME. — The National Intelligence Estimate that was released today—titled "The Terrorist Threat to the Homeland"—amounts to a devastating critique of the Bush administration's policies on Iraq, Iran, and the terrorist threat itself.

Discussion: New York Times, Voice of America, Crooks and Liars, New York Times, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Informed Comment and Los Angeles Times

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
The National Intelligence Estimate

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Kiko's House and News Hounds

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: Salon, The Atlantic Online, MSNBC and TIME: Swampland

Tina Daunt / Los Angeles Times:
Winfrey, Obama just the ticket

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, USA Today and LA Observed

Michael Saul / NY Daily News:
Attorneys in Rudy firm buck boss

Discussion: Bloomberg and MSNBC

Elana Schor / The Hill:

GOP welcomes back Vitter — Republican colleagues welcomed Sen. David Vitter back to Washington Tuesday after the Louisianan spent a tense week avoiding the flap over his ties to the escort service of the so-called "D.C. Madam." — Vitter made brief remarks to GOP conference members …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Republicans Call Reid's Bluff

Discussion: Associated Press and Blue Crab Boulevard

Richard Beeston / Times of London:

Security services 'foil plot to kill Berezovsky at the London Hilton' — Boris Berezovsky fled Britain three weeks ago on the advice of Scotland Yard, amid reports that he was the target of an assassination attempt by a suspected Russian hitman. — The exiled tycoon and fierce critic …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Laura Clout / Telegraph: 'Russian plot to kill Berezovsky foiled'

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Here's a key... TOWNSEND'S DODGE — Here's a key exchange from White House Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend's press conference yesterday about the new NIE on al Qaeda. We know that intelligence estimates received by the White House prior to the invasion of Iraq warned …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

New York Times:
Bush Aides See Failure in Fight With Al Qaeda in Pakistan

Discussion: The Politico, TIME: Swampland, All Spin Zone, Brilliant at Breakfast, No More Mister Nice Blog, Watching Those We Chose, AMERICAblog, Connecting.the.Dots, The Moderate Voice, Truthdig, Confederate Yankee, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, The Blotter and Prairie Weather

Washington Post:

Papers Detail Industry's Role in Cheney's Energy Report — At 10 a.m. on April 4, 2001, representatives of 13 environmental groups were brought into the Old Executive Office Building for a long-anticipated meeting. Since late January, a task force headed by Vice President Cheney …

Discussion: Think Progress, Brian Beutler, TPMmuckraker, Prairie Weather and Wampum

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: The Politico, New York Post, The Hill, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Times and MSNBC

Jacqueline L. Salmon / Washington Post:

Christian Fantasy Genre Builds Niche Without Hogwarts, Muggles or Spells — Could the next Harry Potter be a devout Christian? — As the days tick down until Saturday, when a breathless world learns the fate of the teenage wizard, a new breed of fantasy fiction, with Potter-style stories, is emerging.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Shakesville, Corrente and TBogg

Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:

White House Had Drug Officials Appear With GOP Candidates — White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing new federal grants …

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM), TIME: Swampland and TBogg

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: normblog and Angry Bear

John Stossel / Real Clear Politics:

Where Michael Moore is Wrong — Michael Moore loves government. — OK, he doesn't love a government headed by George W. Bush, but he believes that once the Democrats are in charge, government will do a better job providing health care. — In his new movie, "Sicko," …

Discussion: The Glittering Eye, Blue Crab Boulevard, QandO and The Anonymous Liberal

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.

Discussion: small dead animals, NewsBusters.org, TigerHawk, Instapundit.com, Roger L. Simon and Blue Crab Boulevard

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Help Wanted: Peacemaker — The Iraqi Parliament is on vacation in August and our soldiers are fighting in the heat. Something is wrong with this picture.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Daniel W. Drezner, Brian Beutler, Dohiyi Mir, Michael P.F. van der Galiën and iraqwarit