memeorandum: [TS] Op-Ed Columnist: He Got Out While the Getting Was Good (Frank Rich/New York Times)

10:25 AM ET, August 19, 2007

Top Items:

The Iowa Debates — Tune In and Talk Back — ABC News Hosts Republican and Democratic Debates Aug. 5 and Aug. 19 — Welcome to the online home of ABC News' Democratic debate, the second of two presidential debates held this month on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Political Radar

Mike Glover / Associated Press:

Democrats meet for yet another debate — DES MOINES, Iowa - Even as their differences on the issues become more pronounced, the Democratic presidential front-runners seem to agree on one thing: The schedule of candidate forums and debates has become overwhelming.

Discussion: BartBlog

Mark Halperin / Time:
Obama: Enough with the Debates!

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh, The Blue State, The Fix, TalkLeft, TIME: Swampland, Connecting.the.Dots and The Atlantic Online

New York Times:

The War as We Saw It — VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Prairie Weather, Informed Comment, Daniel W. Drezner and TIME: Swampland

Sally Buzbee / Associated Press:

Shiite militia expands grip in Baghdad — BAGHDAD - The street market bustles in the early mornings and late afternoons as shoppers come out to buy fruit, bread, clothes and toys. Late into the hot summer nights, whole families gather to eat grilled kebabs at tiny stalls, their small children shrieking as they play tag.

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Washington Post:

How Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gains — Bush Adviser's Effort to Promote the President and His Allies Was Unprecedented in Its Reach — Thirteen months before President Bush was reelected, chief strategist Karl Rove summoned political appointees from around the government to the Old Executive Office Building.

Discussion: Bark Bark Woof Woof, Outside The Beltway, First Draft, Prairie Weather, Greenlee Gazette and McClatchy Washington Bureau

The Corner:

The Muslim Jesus Cont'd — Some interesting emails for late on a Saturday night. Here are a bunch, but I'll hide most of 'em behind one of those more links: … And: … And: … And, from my Middle East Guy: — Keep reading this post . . .

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Mark Steyn / Orange County Register:

Speaking of sanctuary, where's ours? — At the funeral of Iofemi Hightower, her classmate Mecca Ali wore a T-shirt with the slogan: "Tell Me Why They Had To Die." — "They" are Miss Hightower, Dashon Harvey and Terrance Aeriel, three young citizens of Newark, New Jersey …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post and Blue Crab Boulevard

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

A Deadly Clash at Donkey Island — On a Routine Night Patrol Near Ramadi, U.S. Troops Stumble Upon a Camp of Heavily Armed Insurgents Poised to Retake the City — Staff Sgt. Norman Stark had never seen combat. Nor did the 32-year-old soldier from Baltimore expect it …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Blue Crab Boulevard and Eunomia

Katie Hafner / New York Times:

Seeing Corporate Fingerprints in Wikipedia Edits — Last year a Wikipedia visitor edited the entry for the SeaWorld theme parks to change all mentions of "orcas" to "killer whales," insisting that this was a more accurate name for the species. — There was another, unexplained edit …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The RBC and MoJoBlog

Observer:

The day reality hit home — The writer Andrew Anthony was a committed member of the liberal left - until the attacks of 11 September, 2001. A veteran of CND and Nicaraguan solidarity campaigns, he was astonished at the liberal left's anti-American reaction.

Discussion: normblog and USS Neverdock

Frank Rich / New York Times:

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: He Got Out While the Getting Was Good — Karl Rove's departure was both abrupt and fast. The ritualistic "for the sake of my family" rationale convinced no one.

Discussion: Pottersville, Middle Earth Journal, Truth, Justice & Peace, Prairie Weather and Dohiyi Mir

Atrios / Eschaton:

Is Tom Friedman a Bad Person? — All signs point to "pretty hideous human being, one which all good people should shun."

Discussion: Hullabaloo, PSoTD and Obsidian Wings

BREITBART.COM:

Climate protest 'will be contained' — Police were confident of being able to contain the expected climax of the climate camp at Heathrow Airport. — Protesters, buoyed by an influx of new arrivals, promised 24 hours of direct action, starting from midday on Sunday.

Discussion: BBC and Little Green Footballs

New York Times:

2 Firefighters Killed in Blaze at Ground Zero — Two firefighters were killed yesterday battling a blaze in the Deutsche Bank skyscraper, a vacant relic of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack that was in the process of being dismantled. — The firefighters were among hundreds who poured …

Discussion: A Blog For All and TPMCafe blogs