memeorandum: 'HE HAD HIS OWN ELEVATOR' — Wayne Barrett has done … (Steve Benen/Talking Points Memo)

6:25 PM ET, August 11, 2007

Top Items:

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Straw Poll Expectations Setting — AMES, Iowa — It's finally here. — The Fix drove 45 minutes north from Des Moines this morning through land dominated by corn fields to arrive in this college town that, for today at least, is at the center of the political universe. — The atmosphere is like a carnival.

Discussion: Hot Air, Eschaton, Political Radar, The Atlantic Online and New York Times

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:

Ron Paul's wife hospitalized in Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — Rep. Ron Paul's wife was hospitalized Saturday morning, the Texas Republican's presidential campaign announced shortly before voting was to begin in the Ames GOP straw poll. — The campaign did not say why Carol Paul was taken to the hospital …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Donklephant, Iowa Voice and Captain's Quarters

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Romney pigs out at Iowa State Fair — DES MOINES — Today we are at the Iowa State Fair, where politicians meet swine but are rarely mistaken for them. — Mitt Romney is at the Pork Tent being a "guest cook," which means he is flipping pork chops on a giant grill with about a dozen camera crews recording the moment for history.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker and CNN

New York Times:
The Iowa Straw Poll, Mostly Barbecue and Carnival

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
Iowa straw poll may weed field

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Attytood, Washington Post, The Caucus, The Carpetbagger Report and The Glittering Eye

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Ron Paul's Camp May Catch Romney's Bus

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, TIME, JammieWearingFool and digg

Matt / Think Progress:

Right-Wing Media Give Favorable Platform To 'Another 9/11′ Columnist — In his Thursday column, Philadelphia Daily News scribe Stu Bykofsky seemingly wished for the tragic death of 3000+ Americans when he wrote that "another 9/11 would help America." — A host of right-wing media …

Discussion: Hot Air, alicublog, Balloon Juice, News Hounds, TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report, PSoTD, Daimnation!, Political Radar, EdCone.com and Left in the West

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:
The Philadelphia Daily News' Stu Bykofsky, one of the city's …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, First Draft, Rising Hegemon and The Garlic

Washington Post:

How We Won the Mainstream — Three years ago things looked bleak for the Democratic Party. George Bush had just won a second term while his party consolidated its grip on Congress. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay crowed about a "permanent Republican majority," and Beltway Democrats acquiesced …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Denver Post Blogs, The Impolitic, New York Times, Norwegianity, Riehl World View, All Spin Zone, theneweditor.com, Daily Kos and Opinion Journal

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

THE BUNKER....When Rudy Giuliani finally agreed to build an emergency-command center in New York City back in 1996, the city's emergency management director recommended a site in Brooklyn: it was a safe location, had a low profile, and could be built quickly. Giuliani refused.

Discussion: Comments From Left Field, Pottersville, The Atlantic Online, The Right's Field, The Huffington Post and Taylor Marsh

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:
'HE HAD HIS OWN ELEVATOR' — Wayne Barrett has done …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Corrente, The Corner and The Reaction

Mark Kleiman / The RBC:
Was 7 WTC Rudy's Love Shack?

Discussion: Blah3 and New York Times

New York Times:

How a 'Good War' in Afghanistan Went Bad — Two years after the Taliban fell to an American-led coalition, a group of NATO ambassadors landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, to survey what appeared to be a triumph — a fresh start for a country ripped apart by years of war with the Soviets and brutal repression by religious extremists.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money

Nathaniel Fick / Washington Post:

Fight Less, Win More — On a highway north of Kabul last month, an American soldier aimed a machine gun at my car from the turret of his armored Humvee. In the split second for which our eyes locked, I had a revelation: To a man with a weapon, everything looks like a threat.

Discussion: The Newshoggers and Outside The Beltway

Cernig / The Newshoggers:

Johnson & Johnson Jump The Shark — Via Raw Story, a tale of such mind-bogglingly venal corporate greed and stupidity as to make your jaw go thunk. Johnson & Johnson has sued the American Red Cross for using its trademark redcross on a white background emblem "for other than non-profit purposes".

Discussion: Comments From Left Field

Agence France Presse: Pharmaceutical giant sues Red Cross over its emblem

New York Times:

Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years — Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the United States engaged in Iraq for years. — John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, neo-neocon, The Atlantic Online and Prairie Weather

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:

Pakistan: Concern over nukes as al Qaeda camps empty — Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat. — US intelligence investigates Pakistan's nuclear security and the military's loyalty to Musharraf as the Northwest Frontier Province spins further out of control

Discussion: Asia Times, Agence France Presse, Hot Air, Flopping Aces and Riehl World View

Barbara Starr / CNN:
Sources: U.S. assessing Pakistan nukes if Musharraf falls

Discussion: The Newshoggers and At-Largely

Associated Press:

Iraq war czar: Consider a draft — WASHINGTON (AP) — Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday. — "I think it makes sense …

canada.com:

Sign splits Lebanese, riles Jews — Members of the Jewish and Lebanese Christian communities in Windsor are outraged by the appearance of a billboard that appears to promote Hezbollah — an organization the Canadian government considers terrorist. — "That organization is banned in Canada …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs and Daimnation!

Atrios / Eschaton:

Everyone Must Agree — The conservative cult's mass death wish is obviously based on a faulty premise, that if there's a terrorist attack they and Dear Leader will somehow be vindicated. Of course the reverse is true. When it comes to "the war on terra," George Bush and the conservative movement …

Samuel G. Freedman / New York Times:

A Pastor Finds a Way to Serve Two Disparate Flocks — The brick church, more than a century old, stands at the junction of two county roads tracing the glacial hills of southeastern Wisconsin. In the field across the way, the summer corn stretches eight feet from root to tassel.

Discussion: Street Prophets, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos and Cliff Schecter

Paul V. Dutton / Boston Globe:

France's model healthcare system — MANY advocates of a universal healthcare system in the United States look to Canada for their model. While the Canadian healthcare system has much to recommend it, there's another model that has been too long neglected. That is the healthcare system in France.

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo