memeorandum: Granite Status: Romney no fan of CNN/YouTube debate antics (John Distaso/New Hampshire Union Leader)

10:40 PM ET, July 26, 2007

Top Items:

Klaus Marre / The Hill:

Leahy issues subpoena for Rove — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday issued a subpoena for top White House adviser Karl Rove to compel him to testify about the firing of several U.S. attorneys. — "The evidence shows that senior White House political operatives …

Discussion: The Politico, Comments From Left Field, The BRAD BLOG, The Democratic Daily, AMERICAblog and Whiskey Fire

David Stout / New York Times:

F.B.I. Chief Challenges Gonzales's Testimony — The dispute over the truthfulness of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales reached a new intensity today as the F.B.I. Director, Robert S. Mueller 3rd, contradicted Mr. Gonzales's sworn testimony before a Senate committee.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Big Lizards, Wonkette and On Deadline

TPMmuckraker:

Analysis: Gonzales Testimony Part of Broader Effort to Conceal Surveillance Program — Alberto Gonzales' testimony that there was "no serious disagreement" within the Bush Administration about the NSA warrantless surveillance program has left senators sputtering and fulminating about the attorney general's apparent prevarications.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Talking Points Memo, The Sideshow, Balkinization, Midtopia, The Carpetbagger Report, Salon and Washington Post

Faiz / Think Progress:
Senators Call For Appointment Of Special Counsel To Investigate Gonzales For Perjury

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, BobGeiger.com, Firedoglake, At-Largely, feingold.senate.gov, The Next Hurrah, Discourse.net, DownWithTyranny!, The Carpetbagger Report and Outside The Beltway

Paul Kane / Associated Press:
Senate Democrats Call for Perjury Probe of Gonzales

Discussion: All Spin Zone

Ana Marie Cox / TIME: Swampland: Fredo Getting Whacked

Jesse Lee / The Gavel:
AG Gonzales Contradicted by FBI Director Mueller

Discussion: Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report and Needlenose

John Distaso / New Hampshire Union Leader:

Granite Status: Romney no fan of CNN/YouTube debate antics — Republican Mitt Romney isn't sure yet whether he'll participate in the CNN/YouTube.com Republican debate in September, but he's no fan of the format. — "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and New York Times

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:

The GOP and YouTube — Rudy won't bite, apparently. Romney's decidedly cool to the idea. The others are getting iffy. Hewitt declares YouTube and CNN biased. Heh. For my part, the current old white men running for the GOP already seem from some other planet.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo and Balloon Juice

Patrick Ruffini / Townhall.com:
GOPers Bail on YouTube Debate?

Discussion: Hot Air, skippy the bush kangaroo, TIME: Swampland and Comments From Left Field

The Atlantic Online: Update: Rudy Likely To Opt Out Of YouTube Debate

Ace of Spades HQ:

Source: TNR Is A Lot More Worried Than They're Letting On; Scott Thomas Got His Job For Plame-ish Reasons — There's actually more to this. Let's just say TNR are playing the hard guys. As a for instance, someone was searching for all of "Gracie's" posts at discarded lies last night.

The Corner:

Everybody Chill Out — The issue with Scott Thomas Beauchamp isn't how he came to be published by the New Republic, or who his girlfriend-fiancee-wife might be. If TNR chose to publish his work because he had a relationship with someone on staff, so what?

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Townhall.com, Weekly Standard, Riehl World View and The American Mind

Dean Barnett / Townhall.com:
The Thomas Affair - The End of the Beginning

Discussion: Reason Magazine, baldilocks and Riehl World View

CNN Political Ticker:

Clinton calls Bush-Cheney comparison 'silly' — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton sharply dismissed Thursday a recent suggestion from chief rival Barack Obama that she is "Bush-Cheney light," telling CNN the comparison is "silly."

Discussion: The Hill, Lynn Sweet, The Atlantic Online, Liberal Values, The Carpetbagger Report, The Democratic Daily and Taylor Marsh

Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle:

Feinstein backs Clinton's bid for president — (07-25) 11:02 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein came roaring to the aid of fellow Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and tongue lashed a radio reporter today for what she said was an inappropriate question during a conference call …

Discussion: Examining Presidential … and The Democratic Daily

Rick Klein / Political Radar:
Obama: Clinton Would Continue "Bush Doctrine"

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Fred File:

Hazleton Immigration Decision — Most Americans want something to be done about the illegal immigration problem we have in this country. They've been expecting the federal government to enforce the immigration laws already on the books. The federal government hasn't done that …

Discussion: Pawatercooler.com

Michelle Malkin:
Clinton appointee strikes down Hazleton anti-illegal immigration law

Discussion: Associated Press, Redstate, Lonewacko and Hot Air

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Joe Klein and Beltway seriousness — Joe Klein today responds to my post from earlier this morning — regarding Joe Lieberman, John Hagee and Seriousness — without expressly acknowledging that he is doing so. He all but quotes my post at length and says he is responding to the use of the word …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Norwegianity, Eschaton, Unqualified Offerings, Rising Hegemon and TalkLeft

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland: Epithets I Have Known — Some epithets are really quite brilliant …

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Matalin Sticking With Fred Thompson — Rumors are flying about more senior level departures from the unofficial presidential campaign of former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.). — But The Fix can knock down one of the major ones: Mary Matalin, a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, race42008.com, Power Line, Wonkette, Los Angeles Times, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, MSNBC and Heading Right

The Atlantic Online:
Exodus Continues: More Staff To Leave Team Thompson

Discussion: National Review and DownWithTyranny!

Carrie Budoff / The Politico:

Immigration. Again. — Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he's floating a plan that would grant legal status to the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, but offer no path to citizenship. — "It might be the equivalent of a green card," Specter said Thursday.

Discussion: Hot Air, QandO and Day In, Day Out

Michael Yon:

Bird's Eye View — Bird's Eye View: The Battle for Baqubah — A Tactical Operations Center (TOC) is the headquarters for a unit. Company-level TOCs are the smallest I have seen. A typical infantry company has about a hundred or more soldiers. The commander will normally be a captain.

Discussion: The Belmont Club, SCSUScholars and Pajamas Media