memeorandum: LABOR DAY IN IRAQ....Ever since World War II, American labor unions … (Kevin Drum/Washington Monthly)

5:15 PM ET, September 3, 2007

Top Items:

Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq — AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (CNN) — President Bush made a surprise visit to an Iraqi air base Monday, saying fewer U.S. forces may be able to maintain security at its current level. — "Gen. [David] Petraeus and Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker tell me if the kind …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Gateway Pundit, Group News Blog, Burkean Reflections, Flopping Aces, Take Our Country Back, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Wake up America, PoliBlog (TM), Daily Kos, Main and Central, Macsmind, QandO, Neptunus Lex and CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

Bush, Advisers Make Surprise Visit to Iraq — AL ASAD AIRBASE, Anbar Province, Iraq, Sept. 3 — On the eve of major administration decisions on U.S. strategy in Iraq, President Bush, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top U.S. military leaders including …

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Hullabaloo, The Carpetbagger Report, Debsweb, Hot Air, The Agonist, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Mahablog, Truthdig, WTF Is It Now?!? and Corrente

Nancy A. Youssef / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Combat deaths in Iraq decline; reasons aren't clear — WASHINGTON — American combat deaths in Iraq have dropped by half in the three months since the buildup of 28,000 additional U.S. troops reached full strength, surprising analysts and dividing them as to why.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Comments From Left Field, Wake up America, Back Talk, Jules Crittenden, The American Street, Group News Blog, Sister Toldjah, Burkean Reflections, Connecting.the.Dots, Blue Girl, Red State and Show Me Progress

David S. Cloud / New York Times:

Bush, in Iraq, Sees Possible Reduction in Troop Levels — On a surprise visit to Iraq today for meetings with his commanders and top Iraqi officials, President Bush raised the possibility that some American troops could be withdrawn from Iraq if security there continues to improve.

Discussion: Norwegianity and Hoffmania!

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Bush Drops By Iraq — George Bush decided to kick-start the September debate on Iraq by getting his own feet on the ground in Anbar. He'll visit the troops, but more importantly meet directly with Nouri al-Maliki to determine how well the newly-announced political reform agreement is faring …

Discussion: bustardblog, CNN Political Ticker, Atlas Shrugs and Redstate

McQ / QandO:

TROOP COMBAT DEATHS DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY — The title to the piece is "Combat deaths in Iraq decline; reasons aren't clear": … So why are deaths down? Well one reason is called "planning". The other is "experience". Michael Yon gave us a clue a month or so ago:

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:

Bush/Cheney in Iraq: Winning By Failing — The chart at left (click on it to enlarge) was compiled by The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum in response to Juan Cole's assessment of claims the surge is a "success." I guess the President's sneak visit to Iraq this morning …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and The Democratic Daily

Ralph Peters / New York Post:

WHAT EXIT? FALLUJAH! — JERSEY MARINES DO U.S. PROUD — Jersey rules. The Marines of 1st Platoon, Fox Company, 3rd Battal ion, 3rd Marines aren't living large, but they're making a huge difference. Bunking in a police precinct headquarters in Fallujah, they're at the forward edge of our current successes in Iraq.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:
Video: President Bush's Surprise Photo Op In Iraq

Discussion: The Next Hurrah and Reuters

Jules Crittenden:
Bush in Iraq — NPR reporting he's landed, enroute to an econmic summit in Australia.

Discussion: The Heretik and Don Surber

Libby Spencer / The Newshoggers:
Bush sneaks into Iraq

Discussion: Associated Press, JammieWearingFool, Outside The Beltway and The Heretik

Associated Press:
President Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq

Discussion: Power Line

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

BUSH'S BRAIN....The Washington Post has more dirt from Robert Draper's new Bush bio, Dead Certain, today. Turns out Karl Rove didn't want Bush to pick Dick Cheney as VP but Bush figured it couldn't do any harm. Score one for Karl. Rove also had doubts about appointing Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:
Roberts Suggested Miers, Book Says

Discussion: Power Line, Captain's Quarters, The Reaction, The Corner, The Carpetbagger Report, The Next Hurrah, The Democratic Daily, Your Right Hand Thief, Firedoglake, How Appealing, The Moderate Voice, The Volokh Conspiracy and Althouse

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

John Edwards: "you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years." — Edwards' universal health care proposal ignores individual autonomy: … So, the mental health check is mandatory too? Why does he not even realize how bad that sounds? He's so warmed up about the generous benefits he's promising …

Discussion: Concurring Opinions, alicublog, Hot Air and Charlie Foxtrot

John Edwards for President:
Edwards Receives Support Of Steelworkers And Mine Workers Unions

Discussion: AFL-CIO Weblog

Amy Lorentzen / Associated Press:
Edwards backs mandatory preventive care

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, PoliBlog (TM), The Reaction, Central Sanity, Neptunus Lex, Betsy's Page, Six Meat Buffet, Outside The Beltway, Redstate, protein wisdom, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Liberal Values, The Strata-Sphere, The American Pundit, The Democratic Daily, QandO and Upper Left

Washington Post:

When Controversy Follows Cash — Some Fundraisers With Legal Issues Slip Through Campaigns' Vetting — Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents …

Discussion: Sweetness & Light, michellemalkin.com, NewsBusters.org, New York Post, Redstate, New York Times, Gateway Pundit and Macsmind

Newsweek:

White House: Why Gonzales Bailed — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told friends he resigned last week at the urging of his wife following a summer vacation. But he had plenty of reasons to leave the capital. Just days earlier, congressional leaders had signaled they intended to keep …

Discussion: Examining Presidential …

White House:

President Bush Visits and Thanks Troops in Anbar Province — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. General, thank you very much. It's an honor to be with you. — As you know, today is Labor Day back home — (hooah) — so I thought I'd come by to thank you for all your hard work. (Hooah.)

CBS News:
Is Iraq A Failed State?

Discussion: AMERICAblog and The Caucus

Andy Borowitz / The Huffington Post:

Bush Pays Surprise Visit to Reality — President George W. Bush departed from his planned itinerary on Labor Day to make a surprise visit to reality, later calling the two-hour stop in the real world "informative." — For Mr. Bush, the visit to reality, while brief, was still significant …

Discussion: Lonewacko

Denver Post:

Doug Lamborn's voice messages to Jonathan and Anna Bartha — The following is a text of two voice messages that Rep. Doug Lamborn left on the home telephone of Jonathan and Anna Bartha. — FIRST MESSAGE: "Hello, this is Doug Lamborn calling for either Jonathan or Anna. Something very serious has happened.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, SquareState.net, Blue Girl, Red State, Riehl World View, The Impolitic, protein wisdom and Associated Press

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars: Republican Congressman Threatens Couple

Jeff Jacoby / Boston Globe:

Is Craig really a hypocrite? — IDAHO isn't Massachusetts, so as soon as the story of his bathroom escapade broke it was clear that Senator Larry Craig would soon be needing new business cards. Except for those elected from the Bay State, US senators and representatives involved in sex scandals …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report