memeorandum: Stay the Course in Iraq = the Draft (Jon Soltz/The Huffington Post)

6:40 PM ET, August 13, 2007

Top Items:

'The Mark of Rove' — These are the days of Republican doubt, with President Bush fighting an unpopular war, Congress in opposition hands, and a 2008 presidential field trailing Democrats in nearly every poll. But don't tell that to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's political alter ego …

Wall Street Journal:

Karl Rove to Resign At the End of August — Karl Rove, President Bush's longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, he said in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

New York Times:

Karl Rove, Top Strategist, Is Leaving the White House — Karl Rove, the political adviser who masterminded President George W. Bush's two winning presidential campaigns and secured his own place in history as a political strategist with extraordinary influence within the White House …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Guardian, CNN Political Ticker, BAGnewsNotes, ACSBlog and Firedoglake

Emptywheel / The Next Hurrah:

My Guesses on Why Rove Resigned — By now you've heard the news: Rove is stepping down. So here's my treatment of possible reasons why he's leaving, in reverse order of their likelihood: — Time with the Family — As he said to the WSJ, he wants to spend more time with this family.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, WorkingForChange, The Hill, MSNBC, The Atlantic Online, Ezra Klein, Booman Tribune, AlterNet.org, Prairie Weather, The Seminal, Think Progress, The Lede and Blah3

CNN:

Karl Rove to leave White House — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Karl Rove, President Bush's senior political adviser, will voluntarily step down from his White House post at the end of the month, senior administration officials said Monday. — "Obviously it's a big loss to us, said deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino. "

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Burnt Orange Report, On Deadline, BlueOregon, BuzzFlash.org, The Atlantic Online and Prairie Weather

Andrew Samwick / Vox Baby:
Rove and Mythology — From the WSJ editorial with Paul Gigot …

Discussion: Angry Bear

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
The Rove Legacy — Karl Rove leaves the White House in anything but victory.

Discussion: Firedoglake, bustardblog, The Hill, Faux Real and Visible Vote 08

Washington Post:
Karl Rove, Adviser to President Bush, to Quit

Discussion: If I Ran the Zoo, Norwegianity and Connecting.the.Dots

Rasmussen Reports:
Karl Rove: 29% Favorable

Discussion: MSNBC and Hot Air

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
EXIT ROVE — So Karl Rove is resigning. I got up in the middle …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Carpetbagger Report and Left in the West

Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:
Karl Rove's Iraq War Role

Discussion: Pottersville

Terence Hunt / Associated Press:
Rove to leave White House Aug. 31

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org

Ryan Sager / New York Sun:

Skip Iowa Next Time — To revise the old Woody Allen line: Eighty percent of success is not showing up. While Mitt Romney may have nominally "won" the Iowa Straw Poll over the weekend, the real victors were the ones who stayed away from Ames: Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Fred Thompson …

Discussion: The Corner

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
For the Candidates, Not Just Any Brand Of Soapbox Will Do

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and mediabistro.com

CNN: Clinton: Strong, yes; likeable, maybe

The Corner:

Gaza Update — It was less than two months ago, after the violent takeover of Gaza, that Hamas spokesmen took to the op-ed pages of American newspapers to proclaim that despite all the suicide bombings and summary executions, Hamas intends to create a good-government, pragmatic Islamic state in Gaza.

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Sakher Abu El Oun / Agence France Presse:
Hamas fighters beat protesters after demo ban

Discussion: Israel Matzav

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

Shocking Article On The State Of Islamic Science At Salon — I won't turn this into another long rant where I bore you all. I'll just invite you to read it in full. The subject of the interview obviously knows what he's talking about, and his opinions are important.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Sadly, No! and alicublog

Steve Paulson / Salon:

The religious state of Islamic science — In October, Malaysia's first astronaut will join a Russian crew and blast off into space. The news of a Muslim astronaut was cause for celebration in the Islamic world, but then certain questions started popping up.

Discussion: Daily Kos

USA Today:

Major attacks decline in Iraq — The number of truck bombs and other large al-Qaeda-style attacks in Iraq have declined nearly 50% since the United States started increasing troop levels in Iraq about six months ago, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, New York Times, Jules Crittenden, Agence France Presse, Comments From Left Field, Commentary, The Glittering Eye, Captain's Quarters, The Captain's Journal, Bluey Blog, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere, Think Progress, Iowa Voice, Donklephant, Redstate, Balloon Juice and Wake up America

Confederate Yankee:

More Easily Debunked Beauchamp Fiction: It Never Ends (Update: Joke?) — Had it not been hidden behind the subscriber firewall, I would have found this example of The New Republic's unwillingness to fact check Scott Beauchamp long ago. — It is already widely know that in Beauchamp's second dispatch …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Weekly Standard, AMERICAN DIGEST and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Michael Yon:

Three Marks on the Horizon — Almost everyone (by now) must have heard about the "lazy" Iraqi parliament members who, like so many Neros fiddling while Rome burns around them, are taking a month off. Yet comparatively few Americans will ever hear or read about IA Scorpion Company Commander Captain Baker …

Discussion: Wizbang, Take Our Country Back, Wake up America and The Sundries Shack

Robert Peach / Commentary:

Boot Interview — Last week we sat down for an interview with Max Boot, a regular contributor to this blog and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Boot talks about "How Not to Get Out of Iraq" (his article in the September issue of COMMENTARY), General Petraeus's September report, the war in Iraq, and more.

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

O'REILLY V. O'REILLY — In case you missed it, fibbing goof Bill O'Reilly goes up against fibbing goof Bill O'Reilly on Fox News' coverage of John Edwards ...

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister

Gina Kolata / New York Times:

The Myth, the Math, the Sex — EVERYONE knows men are promiscuous by nature. It's part of the genetic strategy that evolved to help men spread their genes far and wide. The strategy is different for a woman, who has to go through so much just to have a baby and then nurture it.