memeorandum: Democrats Should Attack Bush, Not MoveOn (Paul Begala/The Huffington Post)

7:55 PM ET, September 20, 2007

Top Items:

Reso Condemning MoveOn Passes Overwhelmingly, With Lots Of Dems — The GOP-introduced resolution condemning MoveOn just passed by a huge margin, 72-25. Roughly half the Democrats in the Senate supported it. — A couple of the more interesting votes: Jim Webb, who just yesterday was a Netroots hero …

Discussion: MyDD, The Newshoggers, MSNBC, Daily Kos, Weekly Standard, Taylor Marsh, commonsense.ourfuture.org, Comments From Left Field, WorkingForChange, Take Our Country Back, Open Left, Wake up America and QandO

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

25 Senate Democrats Support "Betray Us", Including Hillary — The Senate passed the Jon Cornyn amendment condemning the MoveOn.org ad that called General David Petraeus a liar and potential traitor, 72-25. All 25 Senators who voted in support of these smears against an American military commander …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Capitol Briefing, The Swamp, Think Progress, Mitt Romney For President News, Infidels Are Cool, Done With Mirrors, Blue Crab Boulevard and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Obama opts out — The empty, symbolic fight over the MoveOn ad also appears to be testing something that was, from the beginning, a central question in the primary: Do Democrats want somebody who will be above partisan fighting (Obama), or do they want a partisan fighter (Clinton)?

Discussion: The Corner, The Huffington Post, Open Left, QandO, The Carpetbagger Report and MyDD

Paul Begala / The Huffington Post:

Democrats Should Attack Bush, Not MoveOn — Before a single Democrat condemns MoveOn's ad, they should insist that George W. Bush and the Republican Party repudiate the anti-military smears on war heroes that have been the hallmark of Mr. Bush's political career.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Rook's Rant and bustardblog

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Senate Set To Vote Today On Condemning MoveOn — And On Boxer's Alternative

Discussion: Wake up America, Open Left, Talking Points Memo and Taylor Marsh

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Obama Misses Vote On MoveOn — Right After Voting On Boxer Measure

Discussion: Firedoglake, MSNBC, The Corner, Stop The ACLU, Big Lizards, DownWithTyranny!, Redstate, Wake up America, The Politico, Hang Right Politics, Open Left and The American Mind

Ryan Grim / The Politico:
Senate votes to do P.R. for MoveOn

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Byron York / The Corner:
Senate Condemns MoveOn Ad, Cont'd

Discussion: Hot Air, The Oxford Medievalist, NewsBusters.org and Neptunus Lex

Drudge Report:

AHMADINEJAD SAYS HE WILL NOT PUSH TO VISIT GROUND ZERO; 'AMAZED' GESTURE WOULD INSULT AMERICANS — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not press his plan — just denied by New York City Police for security reasons — to visit Ground Zero in New York City, he tells 60 MINUTES' Scott Pelley …

Discussion: Infidels Are Cool, Blue Crab Boulevard, Reason Magazine, JammieWearingFool and The American Pundit

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Audio: Ahmadinejad should be "physically restrained" from going to Ground Zero, says McCain; Update: Ahmadinejad backs down? — He's half-joking but it may come to that. Against all odds, this thing looks like it's going to happen. The word today from the relevant powers …

Discussion: The Blotter, MSNBC, The Corner, Weekly Standard, Classical Values, ABC 7 Eyewitness News, Cox & Forkum, Scared Monkeys, Gateway Pundit and The American Pundit

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
GROW UP — Am I the only one embarrassed by the dingbat brouhaha …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Attytood

Nick Brunetti-Lihach / NonParty Politics:
Liberal Bloggers Defend Ahmadinejad Visit To Ground Zero

Discussion: CNN, PoliBlog (TM), The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway and The Mahablog

Matt Stoller / Open Left:

Wes Clark Interview, Part One: The Petraeus Ad — If anyone can recommend an audio hosting service, please email me at stoller at gmail.com so I can post the audio file of the interview. — I just did an interview with Wes Clark, and there's a bunch of newsworthy stuff in there …

Discussion: The Agonist, Booman Tribune, Interesting Times and skippy the bush kangaroo

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Hey All You Anti-War Crazies.... Just shut up already, and let the Senate deal with it: … Or not. You can sign the MoveOn petition: … Hagel, by the way, voted to condemn MoveOn. — I guess that's his right. He's a Senator, after all. — Update: Hello!

Michael Kinsley / Time:

How Dare You! — Goodness gracious. oh, my paws and whiskers. Some of the meanest, most ornery hombres around are suddenly feeling faint. Notorious tough guys are swooning with the vapors. The biggest beasts in the barnyard are all aflutter over something they read in the New York Times.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Stop The ACLU, NewsBusters.org and Middle Earth Journal

Michael Roston / Huffington Post:

Bush Claims He "Got A B In Econ 101" — In a Thursday morning morning press conference at the White House, the President engaged in a little bit of grade inflation about his academic record. — "You need to talk to economists," he answered when asked if there was a risk of recession in the US economy.

Discussion: Think Progress, The Daily Background, Shakespeare's Sister and rubber hose

Jennifer Vigil / San Diego Union-Tribune:

Sanders changes mind on gay marriage — Mayor supports effort to overturn state ban — A tearful Mayor Jerry Sanders made a dramatic shift yesterday, explaining that he can no longer oppose same-sex marriages because he does not want to deny justice to people like his daughter, who is a lesbian.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Carpetbagger Report

DownWithTyranny!:
STUNNING ABOUT FACE! …

Discussion: Wockner, The Atlantic Online and Comments From Left Field

Mary Mapes / The Huffington Post:

Courage for Dan Rather — Gee, just when I was all excited about Wednesday's big premiere of the new CBS cultural triumph Kid Nation, my old friend Dan Rather went and blew my whole evening out of the water by filing a massive lawsuit against the company. — Here we go again.

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Rather Strikes Back — I was extremely surprised by Dan …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, beldar.blogs.com, Bluey Blog, Hot Air, A Blog For All, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, NewsBusters.org, Blue Crab Boulevard and Ed Driscoll.com

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Poll: Clinton's lead grows, Thompson tops Giuliani — Other Candidates Still a Long Way behind — ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After officially declaring his candidacy, U.S. Senator Fred Thompson moves ahead of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and DownWithTyranny!

CBN.com:
James Dobson to Fred Thompson: No Thanks

Discussion: Hot Air, Democratic Strategist, Comments From Left Field, BartBlog, Macsmind, Cliff Schecter and JunkYardBlog

White House:

Press Conference by the President — THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. In just 10 days the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as S-CHIP, is set to expire. This important program helps children whose families cannot afford private health insurance, but do not qualify for Medicaid to get coverage they need.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Fix, The Caucus, First Draft, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Wake up America and The Carpetbagger Report

Horses Mouth:

Okay, this is a fun postcript to the whole battle over John Bohner's "small price" remark, which this blog first reported on a couple of weeks ago. — Boehner has finally responded personally on television for the first time to all the criticism of his remark, a sign that the beating he's taking …

Discussion: Think Progress