Top Items:
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 expected video message from Osama bin Laden is authentic, recently produced and evidence the al Qaeda leader is still alive.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, National Review, Hot Air, CNN, Associated Press, QandO, TalkLeft, GINA COBB, The Jawa Report, Stop The ACLU, protein wisdom and Gateway Pundit
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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, Left in the West, Rasmussen Reports, No More Mister Nice Blog and DownWithTyranny!
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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.
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, Pollster.com and The American Pundit
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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.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Fugitive fundraiser captured in Colorado tonight — (09-06) 20:52 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Fugitive political fundraiser Norman Hsu, who skipped out on San Mateo County authorities this week rather than face sentencing in a fraud scheme, was apprehended tonight by federal and local lawmen in Grand Junction, Colo.
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Breaking: Norman Hsu captured in Colorado; Update: Hospitalized after falling ill on train; Update: Immigration angle? — In Grand Junction. No details yet, but it sounds like he may have been injured somehow: … Stand by for updates. — Update: The feds are going to drop …
Discussion:
Wizbang, Rocky Mountain News, The Daily Gut, New York Times, Macsmind, Captain's Quarters, Daily Sentinel, A Blog For All, Gateway Pundit, michellemalkin.com, Don Surber, The Caucus, JammieWearingFool, Fausta's blog, Blogs of War, GINA COBB, Sweetness & Light, WILLisms.com, Sister Toldjah and Patterico's Pontifications
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.
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Fred Kaplan / Slate:
What Congress Needs To Ask Petraeus and Crocker — IF WE'RE STAYING IN IRAQ, WE NEED TO KNOW WHY. — The globe will resume spinning on its axis next week, as Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker deliver their long-awaited report on conditions in Iraq.
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:
Power Line, Heading Right, Captain's Quarters, The Glittering Eye, Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs, Theo Spark and Telegraph
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.
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Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
'The Bush Report' — Via the Corner, this email from an unidentified reporter for the Hill: … The Dems are already in full retreat over the war in Iraq, having failed completely to peel off enough Republicans to pass a date-certain for withdrawal and having already voted to fund the war.
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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 …
New York Times:
Seeing Iraq Gains as Fragile, Petraeus Is Wary of Cuts — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, has told President Bush that he wants to maintain heightened troop levels in Iraq well into next year to reduce the risk of military setbacks, but could accept the pullback …
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Slate:
Giving Away the President's Power — This week and next, Slate is publishing three exclusive excerpts from The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration by Jack L. Goldsmith. Goldsmith served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel from October 2003 to July of 2004.
Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune:
Top Utah money man leaves Romney campaign — WASHINGTON - A top Utah fund-raiser for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign - who has links to an organization facing a civil lawsuit alleging child abuse - is no longer part of Romney's state finance team. — Robert Lichfield of La Verkin …