memeorandum: Gonzales to Get Power In Death Penalty Cases (Dan Eggen/Washington Post)

1:20 AM ET, August 15, 2007

Top Items:

How Karl Rove lost a generation of Republicans — There is an old joke that campaign veterans toss around war rooms, bars and BS sessions. We say there are people who have worked in campaigns who say that they have lost some - and we call those folks operatives, managers, strategists …

Discussion: ZenPundit and Daily Pundit

White House:

Press Gaggle by Dana Perino — MS. PERINO: Good morning, everybody, from Crawford junior high [sic]. Today the President had his normal briefings this morning. He also had three foreign leader calls, which I will read out for you. The President spoke this morning separately to President Karzai and to President Musharraf.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online and MSNBC

Lou Dubose / Salon:
The collapse of Karl Rove

Discussion: Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny!, Right Wing Watch, Prairie Weather, Off the Kuff and The Reaction

David Frum / New York Times:
Building a Coalition, Forgetting to Rule

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, The Corner, The Atlantic Online, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Secular Blasphemy, The Navel of the Internet, The Mahablog, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Moderate Voice and Washington Post

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
BARNES STORMING: — I don't know how I let myself get almost through …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Extreme Mortman: What Karl Rove Understood About International Broadcasting

Rudolph Giuliani / Foreign Affairs:

Toward a Realistic Peace — Summary: The next U.S. president will face three key foreign policy challenges: setting a course for victory in the terrorists' war on global order, strengthening the international system the terrorists seek to destroy, and extending the system's benefits.

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org, The Right's Field, The Newshoggers, Ezra Klein, Rising Hegemon, New York Times and The Atlantic Online

Frank Franklin II / ABCNEWS:

Giuliani Vows to End Illegal Immigration — Mayor's Campaign Hits Romney Back on Issue, Defends Record — A week after being assailed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for being soft on illegal immigration as mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani today unveiled the details of his plan …

Discussion: All Spin Zone, New York Times, The Corner, The Reaction, Comments From Left Field, alicublog and Lonewacko

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Rudy can do nuance — Rudy Giuliani has a long piece …

Discussion: New York Times

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
GIULIANI: CATASTROPHE WAITING TO HAPPEN, PT. II

Discussion: The Anonymous Liberal

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

Fact Check: Obama on Afghanistan — WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama said it, the Republican Party pointed out in a screaming headline Tuesday that highlighted the presidential candidate's comments on Afghanistan and the killing of civilians. — Behind the scenes, Obama's rival campaigns buzzed …

Discussion: MyDD, Ray Robison, Captain's Quarters, The Sundries Shack, Flopping Aces, Liberal Values, The Politico, National Review, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Carpetbagger Report, Nashuatelegraph.com, Ed Driscoll.com, QandO and Gateway Pundit

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Let's stop "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians" …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, National Review, Power Line, NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com and theneweditor.com

Jeff G. / protein wisdom:
"AP joins Obama in slander of US troops"

Discussion: Truth v. The Machine

Mike Flannery / WBBM-TV:

CBS 2 Exclusive: Hastert Leaving Congress — News Conference Scheduled For Friday — (CBS) CHICAGO Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is in Asia, but he's scheduled a news conference in Kendall County for Friday. — CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports exclusively sources …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, MyDD, MoJoBlog, DownWithTyranny!, STNG and Redstate

Jonathan Allen / CQPolitics.com:

Hastert Planning to Retire at End of 2008, GOP Sources Say — After less than a year as a rank-and-file House member, former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is expected to call an end to a political career that made him the longest serving Republican Speaker in the history of the House of Representatives.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Reuters:
Ex-House Speaker Hastert to retire: source

Discussion: Cliff Schecter, MoJoBlog and The Seminal

Greg Giroux / CQPolitics.com:
GOP Favored to Hang Onto Illinois District After Hastert Retires

Discussion: Open Left, Booman Tribune and Swing State Project

CNN:

Dozens killed in multiple suicide attacks in Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Suicide bombings in a northern Iraqi town Tuesday targeted a religious minority and left at least 120 people dead and 150 wounded, according to police officials, who said there were three bombings in three locations.

Discussion: Central Sanity, Greatscat!, Taylor Marsh, Middle Earth Journal and Comments From Left Field

Megan Greenwell / Washington Post:
Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 175 in Iraq

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Blue State

Kim Gamel / Associated Press:
Four Suicide Bombings Kill 175 in Iraq

Discussion: Booman Tribune and A Blog For All

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:

Gonzales to Get Power In Death Penalty Cases — Rules Would Expand Fast-Track Authority — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, under political siege for his handling of the U.S. attorney firings and other issues, is to get expanded powers to hasten death penalty cases under regulations being developed by the Justice Department.

Discussion: Democrats.com and the talking dog

ABCNEWS:
Man to Be Executed, Although Prosecutors Say He Didn't Kill

Discussion: Comments From Left Field

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Rule Change Shifts Death Penalty Responsibilities to Gonzales

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Outside The Beltway, TalkLeft, The American Street, The Volokh Conspiracy, Comments From Left Field, The Newshoggers, ACSBlog and PoliBlog (TM)

Cernig / The Newshoggers:
Unjust Justice And A Texas Execution

Discussion: Comments From Left Field and Outside The Beltway

Robin Wright / Washington Post:

Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist' — U.S. Moving Against Revolutionary Guard — The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials …

Discussion: New York Times, The Corner, Riehl World View, Hot Air, Roger L. Simon, Wake up America, The Gun Toting Liberal™, My Two Sense, Brian Beutler, The Reaction, Dean's World, Blogs of War and Daily Pundit

Chris / TVNewser:

Half Hour News Hour Shelved — First on TVNewser: In a memo to senior producers this afternoon, FNC's SVP of programming, Bill Shine announced the network "will not continue the Half Hour News Hour beyond its current 15 episode run." Shine did leave the door open, however …

Discussion: Think Progress, Hog On Ice, The Democratic Daily, Hot Air, Hullabaloo and Inside Cable News

Dion Nissenbaum / Yahoo! News:

Hamas TV's child star says she's ready for martyrdom — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, Israel Matzav, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air and Solomonia

John Borland / Wired News:

See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign — On November 17th, 2005, an anonymous Wikipedia user deleted 15 paragraphs from an article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold, excising an entire section critical of the company's machines. While anonymous, such changes typically …