memeorandum: Pentagon Announces Iraq Troop Rotations (Richard Lardner/Associated Press)

9:50 PM ET, July 31, 2007

Top Items:

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog:

BREAKING... Home Depot dumps O'Reilly: "We will not... advertise on the Bill O'Reilly show" — Home Depot seems to have had a change of heart. They're now unequivocally telling their customers that they will not advertise on Bill O'Reilly's show. Oddly, however, they're now also claiming …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Don Surber, Comments From Left Field, Cliff Schecter, Taylor Marsh, Think Progress, Done With Mirrors, The Democratic Daily, JammieWearingFool and Macsmind

Mike Stark / Daily Kos:

I just returned from Falafel Bill's house — After O'Reilly provided an "accountability moment" to the JetBlue CEO at his home, I decided to provide O'Reilly with his own accountability moment at his home. — I've just returned to home base. — I've got video of O'Reilly in his sleepwear (red shorts and a white t-shirt).

Discussion: Wonkette, Riehl World View, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh and National Review

Dan / Riehl World View: But, We're Winning, Right?

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

Stevens threatens to block ethics bill — Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, whose home back in Alaska was raided by federal investigators Monday in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, has threatened to place a hold on the Democratic-drafted ethics legislation just passed by the House and expected on the Senate floor by week's end.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Debate Link, The Democratic Daily, Sunlight Foundation blogs and Firedoglake

Atrios / Eschaton:
HULK SMASH DANA BASH

Discussion: Think Progress

Anchorage Daily News:
Warrant served at Ted Stevens' Girdwood home

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, MyDD, Sunlight Foundation blogs, About U.S. Politics, Comments From Left Field, New York Times, The Impolitic, Reuters, Associated Press, Shakespeare's Sister, Taegan Goddard's …, Democratic National Committee, Don Surber and DownWithTyranny!

The Raw Story:

'Conflict' keeps Rumsfeld from Tillman hearing — Update: This story has been updated to reflect comment from the Oversight Committee's Republican staff. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will not testify at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the friendly fire death …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Wonkette, Firedoglake and Cliff Schecter

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

Ken Layne Needs To Drum Up Weak Traffic At Wonkette, So He Endorses Strong-Form of Tillman Assassination Theory — And of course the hits are flying in. — So annoying that a sissyblog like Wonkette can get all the traffic from the left any day they choose simply by deciding to be insane.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Jawa Report and Little Green Footballs

DemocracyInAction.com:
Join Veterans in Writing President to Come Clean on Tillman

Discussion: Think Progress

Associated Press:
Retired general censured in Tillman case

Discussion: The Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

Matt / Think Progress:

Cheney On Whether He Ordered Hospital Visit To Ashcroft: I Have 'No Recollection' — On Sunday, Josh Marshall pointed out that the New York Times editorial on the potential need to impeach Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that "Vice President Dick Cheney sent Mr. Gonzales and another official …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Agence France Presse, DownWithTyranny!, CNN Political Ticker, Hullabaloo, Shakespeare's Sister and The Next Hurrah

White House:

Interview of the Vice President by Larry King, CNN — Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building — Q We're located in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office; it's in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, with the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy

Rasmussen Reports:
41% Say Gonzales Should Resign

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, TPMmuckraker and Think Progress

Gallup Poll:

Public Confidence in Presidential Hopefuls on Key 2008 Election Issues — No candidate has a clear edge on Iraq — PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Panel survey finds each of the five best-known 2008 presidential candidates scoring similarly in ratings of public confidence in their ability …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Pollster.com, Donklephant, The Swamp, Comments From Left Field, eyeon08.com, TIME: Swampland, Wake up America, Hot Air and Mouth of the Potomac

Candy Crowley / CNN: Thompson fundraising not blowing rivals away

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Thompson on Horseback — It's a shame that Fred Thompson …

Discussion: MSNBC, Riehl World View and SayUncle

Faiz / Think Progress:

Breaking: White House releases letter on NSA program. — After missing the noon deadline imposed by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the White House has released a statement seeking to resolve the discrepancies in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' contradictory statements about the NSA warrantless wiretapping program.

Discussion: TalkLeft

The Raw Story:

White House releases NSA letter hours after deadline — The White House has responded to a Republican senator's request for information about Alberto Gonzales's conflicting testimony on a secret surveillance program but not by a 12 p.m. Tuesday deadline, CNN reported.

Discussion: Think Progress, TIME: Swampland, Wonkette, The Next Hurrah and digg

Matt / Think Progress:
Specter: McConnell Letter Doesn't Cut It, Waiting To Hear Directly From Gonzales

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, DownWithTyranny! and The Hill

Wall Street Journal:

News Corp. Appears to Have Enough Votes to Clinch Deal — News Corp. is poised to win control of Dow Jones & Co., including its flagship publication, The Wall Street Journal, after a key Bancroft trust changed its mind and decided to accept News Corp.'s $60-a-share offer for the newspaper publisher.

Discussion: Reflections of a Newsosaur, CBS News, The Huffington Post, paidContent.org, Wake up America, Connecting.the.Dots, Romenesko, On Deadline and Associated Press

New York Times:

Murdoch Seen to Win Control of Dow Jones — Rupert Murdoch appeared today to have gained enough support from the deeply divided Bancroft family to buy Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion. — Family members and trusts representing about 32 percent …

Discussion: CNBC.com, The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, Wall Street Journal, On Deadline, Media Blog and The Democratic Daily

Richard Lardner / Associated Press:

Pentagon Announces Iraq Troop Rotations — WASHINGTON — Nearly 20,000 U.S. troops based in the United States will begin departing for Iraq in December as part of the regular rotation of combat forces there, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. — These Army and Marine Corps units …

The Raw Story: 20,000 MORE TROOPS INTO IRAQ — The Pentagon announced Tuesday …

Nicholas Wapshott / New York Sun:

Brown Disappoints Critics of Iraq War — Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, has disappointed American and British critics of the war in Iraq by declaring that he believes the West is involved in a "generation-long battle" against radical Islamic terrorism, that he believes …

Discussion: Wake up America and TigerHawk

Toby Harnden / Telegraph Blogs:
What Bush and Brown really meant

Discussion: Guardian, The Newshoggers and Best of Both Worlds

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:

Hearing with DNI chief canceled amid FISA furor — House Democrats canceled Tuesday's planned hearing with Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, prompting a rebuke from Republicans who want Congress to proceed quickly on updating a key surveillance law.

Discussion: ACLU, CNN Political Ticker, TalkLeft, Don Surber, Threat Level, PrairiePundit and A Chequer-Board of Nights …

Matthew Sanchez / Matt Sanchez:

BEAUCHAMP — After a helicopter ride around Baghdad, this afternoon I arrived at Forward Operating Base Falcon, where the mood was somber. The Army has begun an official investigation into The New Republic articles of the "Baghdad Diarist", Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Hot Air

Ari Berman / The Nation:

Why Pelosi Opposes Impeachment — If she were not in the House—and not Speaker of the House—Nancy Pelosi says she "would probably advocate" impeaching President Bush. — But given her current role as party leader, at a breakfast with progressive journalists today (named …

Discussion: The Republic of T., AMERICAblog, Sister Toldjah, DownWithTyranny!, Campaign for America's Future and Taylor Marsh