Top Items:
Bob Geiger:
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, DownWithTyranny!, Liberty Street, AMERICAblog, The American Street and WTF Is It Now??
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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 …
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, New York Times, TalkLeft, The Gavel, Tangled Webs, Watching Those We Chose and Daily Kos
New York Times:
Democrats Fail to Force Vote on Iraq Pullout
Democrats Fail to Force Vote on Iraq Pullout
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Captain's Quarters, Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post and JustOneMinute
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.
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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:
The Corner, Salon, Slate, The Atlantic Online, New York Times, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, All Spin Zone, Los Angeles Times, Liberal Values, The Buck Stops Here, Think Progress, Gateway Pundit, PoliBlog (TM), Prairie Weather, Left I on the News, WTF Is It Now??, Balloon Juice, Donklephant, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, Daily Kos, the talking dog, Watching Those We Chose, The Moderate Voice and New York Times
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.
Eric Pooley / Time:
Can Poverty Define John Edwards? — "This is the cause of my life," says John Edwards. "When I die, if I've done something serious to help eradicate poverty, I'll die a happy man." The candidate and I are riding in a minivan from Youngstown, Ohio to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Day Two of his …
Discussion:
CNN Political Ticker
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Mike Dorning / Chicago Tribune:
Democrats pledge support for wide access to abortion
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
Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
Edwards ad touts him as a tough guy
Edwards ad touts him as a tough guy
Discussion:
Open Left, Chicago Tribune, JustOneMinute, The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Macsmind, New York Times and Wonkette
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!, Balloon Juice, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report and Tangled Webs
Pamela Geller Oshry / Atlas Shrugs:
BEST BLOGS BANNED. TRUTH SILENCED — I mentioned earlier on my show that Atlas Shrugs has been banned in the UK and the EU according to Pim's Ghost. Stranger still, the number of visits to this site generated by google search have all but disappeared in the past couple of days.
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?
Max Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:
Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour
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.
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, Salon, The Corner, Power Line, TIME: Swampland, National Review, DownWithTyranny!, Strategist, The Atlantic Online, MSNBC and PoliBlog (TM)
Bradford Plumer / The New Republic:
WHY SO SECRETIVE?: — The Washington Post finally manages to figure out who met with Cheney's secret energy task force in 2001: … None of that is terribly surprising: It's not like anyone thought Cheney was meeting with Green Mountain Energy and Amory Lovins day after day.
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.
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.
Media Matters for America:
Wash. Post's Murray: GOP won't support Iraq withdrawal because "[t]hey're just not willing to do that to the military" — On the July 18 edition of MSNBC Live, during a discussion of Senate Republicans' move blocking an up or down vote on a Democratic amendment aimed at withdrawing troops from Iraq …
Al Kamen / Washington Post:
Fredo Finally Gives U.S. Attorney a Good Evaluation — In the Justice Department's Great Hall (the very room where giant, blue drapes covered the underdressed statuary during John Ashcroft's tenure as attorney general), an array of prosecutors, securities regulators and FBI honchos gathered yesterday …