memeorandum: Battleground Europe — The Continent is a front line in the war … (Timothy Garton Ash/Los Angeles Times)

4:10 PM ET, September 13, 2007

Top Items:

TIMES GIVES LEFTIES A HEFTY DISCOUNT FOR 'BETRAY US' AD — The New York Times dramatically slashed its normal rates for a full-page advertisement for MoveOn.org's ad questioning the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. — Headlined "Cooking the Books …

New York Post:

SEN. CLINTON'S SLUR — Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday found herself positioned firmly to the left of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding that disgusting New York Times/MoveOn "General Betray Us" attack on Gen. David Petraeus' integrity. — That's not an enviable position for a woman who's trying …

Discussion: The Politico, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, No More Mister Nice Blog and Blue Crab Boulevard

Washington Post:
Petraeus Returns to War That Is Now His Own

Discussion: Brian Beutler and Don Surber

Zzaki / Political Punch:
Does Ideology Matter in NYT ads?

Discussion: BLACKFIVE, The Huffington Post, Redstate, The Independent, Reason Magazine and Confederate Yankee

Abu Aardvark:

Abu Risha murdered — I was in the middle of putting the finishing touches on an short piece about Iraqi Sunni politics due out later today when I got an urgent flash that Abd al-Sattar Abu Risha had been murdered in Anbar. Nothing could have been more predictable than the murder of Abu Risha …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, TPMmuckraker, rubber hose, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, American Footprints, Daily Kos, The Garlic and The Next Hurrah

Sameer N. Yacoub / Associated Press:
Bomb kills Iraqi sheik who met with Bush

Discussion: The Corner, Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, The Long War Journal, Hot Air, Corrente, Publius Pundit, Comments From Left Field, Prairie Weather and 9/11 Families …

Guardian:
Setback for Bush as key US ally dies in Iraq

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Marc Lynch / American Prospect:
Sunni World — The cheerleaders for the surge have constructed …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Abu Aardvark and TPMmuckraker

Brian Ross Reports / The Blotter:

Clinton, Pelosi, Greenspan, Bloomberg, Gates, Annan Also Say Interviews 'Fakes' — Brian Ross Reports: — Former President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Attytood, War and Piece, Washington Post and TVNewser

National / Homeland Security National Terror Alert:

Camouflaged Man Armed With A Loaded AK-47 Arrested In Dearborn Park — A 26-year-old Dearborn resident, Houssein Zorkot, was arraigned in 19th District Court Tuesday on several felony charges, including carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent. — Zorkot, a third-year medical student …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Op For, Stop The ACLU, Wake up America, Gateway Pundit and UrbanGrounds

Rusty / The Jawa Report:
Michigan "Sniper" is a Shia Blogger UPDATE: "The Start of My Personal Jihad"

Discussion: Hot Air

George Will / Real Clear Politics:

Is a Fred Thompson Campaign Necessary? — Fred Thompson's plunge into the presidential pool — more belly-flop than swan dive — was the strangest product launch since that of New Coke in 1985. Then the question was: Is this product necessary? A similar question stumped Thompson the day he plunged.

Discussion: The Corner, Comments From Left Field, TIME, MSNBC, PoliBlog (TM), Shakespeare's Sister, Daily Kos, Betsy's Page, Daily Pundit, The Right's Field and PoliPundit.com

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
Help Not Wanted — Almost immediately following the launch …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Wonkette, Los Angeles Times, Althouse and The Carpetbagger Report

Paul Weyrich / Townhall.com:
The Thompson Campaign — At last Fred D. Thompson is in the race.

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Lindsay Renick Mayer / Capital Eye:

The Other Iraq Surge — A sharp increase in contributions from the military to Democrats suggests the Republican commander-in-chief and his party are losing the troops' support. — Assessed favorably this week by the war's lead general, the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq appears to be causing …

Discussion: The Caucus, Boston Globe, TPM Election Central and INSTAPUTZ

Robert Vamosi / CNET News.com:

Researcher: Bin Laden's beard is real, video is not — On the Friday before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Osama bin Laden appeared in a new video, his first since prior to the U.S. presidential elections in 2004. In analyzing the video, Neal Krawetz of Hactor Factor, an expert on digital image forensics …

Discussion: Donklephant, Outside The Beltway, GINA COBB, Balloon Juice, Secure Computing and QandO

Richard Miniter:

BERGER'S COMEBACK — As many of you know, Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and I no longer get along. — Once a cordial and helpful source, Berger turned on me in January 2002 when the first installment of a Sunday Times (U.K.) series that I co-wrote appeared.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, beldar.blogs.com, baldilocks, Right Wing Nut House, Right Wing News and Betsy's Page

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Hsus And Socks — by the company he chooses ... and the pig got …

Discussion: Wizbang

Mother Jones:

Crocker's Fuzzy Economics — NEWS: Ambassador Ryan Crocker had tough marching orders this week: Spin the political and economic chaos of Iraq into something that sounds like progress. But even the mild gains Crocker professed don't stand up to close scrutiny.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Kos / Daily Kos:

CT-Sen: Lamont would win rematch — Daily Kos commissioned the following poll from independent pollster Research 2000: — Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 9/10-12. Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines) … Lieberman won 50-40-10 in 2006, so the poll tracks closely.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Corner, Open Left, DownWithTyranny! and MSNBC

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Senate Intelligence Panel Seeks CIA Nominee's Withdrawal — Members of the Senate intelligence committee have requested the withdrawal of the Bush administration's choice for CIA general counsel, acknowledging that John Rizzo's nomination has stalled because of concerns about his views on the treatment of terrorism suspects.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Think Progress and MoJoBlog

Dan Morain / Los Angeles Times:

Hsu letter appeared to be suicide note — The fundraiser sent it on the day of his second disappearance. In it, he apologized to those to whom he donated. — On the day he disappeared, Norman Hsu, the disgraced fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Gateway Pundit, New York Times, Suitably Flip, Washington Wire, michellemalkin.com, Hot Air and The Aristocrats

Rasmussen Reports:

43% Support Petraeus Recommendation, 38% Oppose — Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans favor the recommendation made by General David Petraeus to withdraw 30,000 soldiers from Iraq but leave 130,000 troops in place at least through the summer. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Wake up America

Victor Davis Hanson / Real Clear Politics:

A New Strain of Anti-Semitism is Spreading — Who recently said: "These Jews started 19 Crusades. The 19th was World War (1). Why? Only to build Israel." — Some holdover Nazi? — Hardly. It was former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey, a NATO ally.

Discussion: bustardblog, Secular Blasphemy, Blogs for Bush, Roger L. Simon and Blue Crab Boulevard