memeorandum: New Videotape From Bin Laden; Al Qaeda's No. 1 Still Alive (Brian Ross Reports/The Blotter)

2:05 PM ET, September 7, 2007

Top Items:

Jurassicpork / Pottersville:

Paul Krugman: Time to Take a Stand — Here's what will definitely happen when Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress next week: he'll assert that the surge has reduced violence in Iraq — as long as you don't count Sunnis killed by Sunnis, Shiites killed by Shiites …

Discussion: CNSNews, The Moderate Voice, skippy the bush kangaroo, Left in the West, Comments From Left Field, The Detroit Times, No More Mister Nice Blog and DownWithTyranny!

Faiz / Think Progress:

New Twist In Saga Over 'Petraeus Report': There Will Be No Report — In the latest twist to the ongoing saga over the White House report, a senior military official tells the Washington Times today that there will actually be no report at all: … To recap, first the public was incorrectly led …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Next Hurrah, Rasmussen Reports and Crooks and Liars

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Time to Take a Stand — Gen. David Petraeus has a history of making overoptimistic assessments of progress in Iraq that happen to be convenient for his political masters.

Discussion: WorkingForChange, Prairie Weather, Middle Earth Journal, SWJ Blog, FP Passport, Brian Beutler, Time, INSTAPUTZ, Connecting.the.Dots, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Atlantic Online and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

BURIED LEDE ALERT....Fred Kaplan has a good piece in Slate today about the upcoming Petraeus report and what Congress needs to ask about it. But I was more taken by an astonishing statement at the end of the piece from Stephen Biddle, a member of Petraeus's advisory panel.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Atlantic Online, Slate, The Next Hurrah, New York Times, Donklephant, Pacific Views, The Newshoggers, The Impolitic, Comments From Left Field, The Peking Duck, Corrente, Balloon Juice and Shakespeare's Sister

Washington Times:

Inside the Ring — Gen. Musharraf, a key Washington ally despite the problems, seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999 that sent Mr. Sharif into exile in Saudi Arabia. — Iraq progress report — A major political event unfolding Monday will be the report to President Bush …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and unbossed.com

Daniel Politi / Slate:
Slow Motion — The New York Times and the Washington Post's …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Carpetbagger Report, My Left Wing, The Swamp, On Deadline and INTEL DUMP

Brian Ross Reports / The Blotter:

New Videotape From Bin Laden; Al Qaeda's No. 1 Still Alive — Brian Ross Reports: — Intelligence sources tell ABC News they believe the video message from Osama bin Laden is authentic, recently produced and evidence the al Qaeda leader is still alive. — According to government sources …

Discussion: Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, The Jawa Report, Blue Crab Boulevard, Gateway Pundit, National Review, CNN, The Daily Whim, QandO, Riehl World View and TalkLeft

MSNBC:

U.S. reviewing purported bin Laden tape — Video contains no specific threat; Web sites carrying tape shut down — WASHINGTON - The U.S. government has obtained a new video of Osama bin Laden marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and is analyzing it, a counterterror official said Friday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, On Deadline and The Belmont Club

Lydia Saad / Gallup Poll:

Gallup Ranks the 2008 Candidates According to a Feeling Thermometer — Obama rated the most positively by Americans; Hillary enjoys broadest partisan support — PRINCETON, NJ — Using a "feeling thermometer" rating scale, Gallup recently tested the public images of several of the Republican …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Swamp, Blue Crab Boulevard, The American Pundit and Pollster.com

Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:

Off to the Races — Surprisingly, the Republican presidential campaign comes into focus. — This week the Republican candidates for the presidency tried to make it new again. Summer's over, autumn's here, they're relaunching. I think they pretty much succeeded. Their debate Wednesday night had sparks and fire.

Discussion: Eunomia, The Atlantic Online, No More Mister Nice Blog and GINA COBB

Justin Rood Reports / The Blotter:

Who is Hsu? Captured Fundraiser Didn't Vote — Justin Rood Reports: — Mysterious Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu is in custody again, after a brief return to a fugitive lifestyle he maintained for 15 years. But new questions are cropping up about his past.

Discussion: Hot Air, Blue Crab Boulevard and The American Pundit

Right Wing News:
Hillary Clinton's Sleazy New Fundraiser

Discussion: The American Pundit

San Francisco Chronicle:
Fugitive fundraiser Hsu captured in Colorado

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, TPMCafe blogs, The Detroit Times, Right Wing Nut House, Power Line, Macsmind, Washington Post, Classical Values, Captain's Quarters, Don Surber, JammieWearingFool, TalkLeft and Sister Toldjah

Jim Moore / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Go 2 Guy: Seahawks duo blitzed by Bush backlash — KIRKLAND — Are you still fans of Matt Hasselbeck and Mack Strong after they visited President Bush last week in Bellevue? Or have their political leanings turned you against them? — The Seahawks quarterback and fullback gave …

Discussion: Don Surber, Sister Toldjah, Outside The Beltway, Gateway Pundit, QandO and Blue Crab Boulevard

The Independent:

Switzerland: Europe's heart of darkness? — Switzerland is known as a haven of peace and neutrality. But today it is home to a new extremism that has alarmed the United Nations. Proposals for draconian new laws that target the country's immigrants have been condemned as unjust and racist.

Discussion: The Corner, The Borjas Blog, Say Anything, Daily Pundit and The Brussels Journal

Andrew Norfolk / Times of London:

Hardline takeover of British mosques — Almost half of Britain's mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values and has called on Muslims to "shed blood" for Allah, an investigation by The Times has found.

Discussion: Heading Right, Power Line, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, The Glittering Eye, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs and Theo Spark

Rob / Say Anything:

More On Ed Schultz's Bar Fight — Earlier this evening I wrote a post about North Dakota and national radio personality (and Democrat mouthpiece) Ed Schultz getting into an altercation with Kevin Nagle. Upon first hearing of the story, something just didn't seem right.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Taylor Marsh and Riehl World View

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
HATE TALK FROM THE HEARTLAND

Discussion: IN-FORUM, Captain's Quarters and Say Anything

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:

Greenwald vs. Giuliani — I've seen the polls, watched the debates, and read the fundraising reports. Rudy Giuliani, for reasons that continue to escape me, is at or near the front of the Republican presidential field, based almost entirely on the belief the former mayor is strong …

Sara Kugler / Associated Press:
Giuliani documentary being released

Discussion: All Spin Zone, Slog, Brilliant at Breakfast, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog and Salon

The Raw Story:

Video: Dazed Bush forgets where he is — Want to get the news the media buries? Get Raw headlines in your browser. President Bush's trademark struggles with the finer points of public speaking were on full display Friday, when he thanked his "Austrian" hosts for inviting him to this year's "OPEC" summit.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, The Detroit Times and The Democratic Daily