memeorandum: Romney, your campaign 'change agent' (Jonathan Martin/The Politico)

12:35 PM ET, September 23, 2007

Top Items:

N.Y. Times admits Petraeus ad sold to Moveon.org at 1/2 off — The old gray lady has some explaining to do. — Officials at the New York Times have admitted a liberal activist group was permitted to pay half the rate it should have for a provocative ad condemning U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

Discussion: Redstate, Rook's Rant, The Democratic Daily, A Blog For All, PoliPundit.com and Instapundit.com

Clark Hoyt / New York Times:

Betraying Its Own Best Interests — FOR nearly two weeks, The New York Times has been defending a political advertisement that critics say was an unfair shot at the American commander in Iraq. — But I think the ad violated The Times's own written standards, and the paper …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Wizbang, TigerHawk, Sister Toldjah, Little Green Footballs, Althouse, Riehl World View, Betsy's Page, Drudge Retort and Viking Pundit

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Remember me — Hillary Rodham Kerry — Hillary Clinton embarassed herself last week—but Republicans shouldn't celebrate for too long. — On October 2, 2003, Senator John Kerry voted for an $87 billion appropriation to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that was paired with rescinding some Bush tax cuts.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Power Line

Times of London:

Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid — Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, Corrente, A Blog For All, PoliPundit.com, Soccer Dad, Death, Israel Matzav, Patterico's Pontifications and New York Times

Times of London:

Snatched: Israeli commandos 'nuclear' raid — Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, Sarah Baxter, Washington, and Michael Sheridan — ISRAELI commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit - almost certainly dressed in Syrian uniforms - made their way stealthily towards a secret military compound near Dayr az-Zawr in northern Syria.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Betsy's Page, Death, Gateway Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard, TigerHawk and Agence France Presse

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Israeli commandos seized nuke material in Syria before air raid?

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Death and Wake up America

Washington Post:

In Swing Districts, Democratic Enthusiasm Is Harder to Come By — Conventional wisdom dictates that Democratic voters are thrilled with their choices for president, bursting at the seams to rally behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or whoever gets the party's nod next year.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Booman Tribune

mrzine.monthlyreview.org:

Open Letter to Progressive Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — by The Columbia Coalition Against the War — As Columbia only very recently announced, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be speaking in Roone Arledge auditorium this Monday. A number of students and student organizations …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The American Street, Burkean Reflections, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Harry's Place, Fausta's blog, Israel Matzav, Right Wing Nut House and The American Pundit

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Of course we'd invite Hitler to speak, says Columbia dean

Discussion: Jon Swift, Associated Press, The Oxford Medievalist, Webloggin, michellemalkin.com, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Israel Matzav, Sister Toldjah, Doug Ross, Gateway Pundit, Stop The ACLU, The Road to Surfdom, Redstate, Blue Crab Boulevard, Little Green Footballs, protein wisdom and Take Our Country Back

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:

REWRITING 'GOD BLESS AMERICA' — It didn't generate much in the way of media attention this week, but a bunch of religious right groups co-sponsored the first-ever "Values Voter" debate a few days ago for the GOP presidential field. The top four (Giuliani, Romney, McCain, and Thompson) …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

Sunday Talking Head Thread — Here's the Sunday Talking Head line-up for this morning. (partially via the Contra Costa Times.) — C-Span Washington Journal:7:45am - Thomas Schaller, Baltimore Sun, National Political Columnist | Article; 8:30am - Newspaper Articles & Viewer Calls …

Discussion: The Caucus

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
Clinton faces huge test on Sunday

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, TalkLeft and New York Times

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
A Mother's Strength, a Candidate's Ambition

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal™

Angela Doland / Associated Press:

Marcel Marceau, Famed French Mime, Dies — PARIS (AP) — Marcel Marceau, whose lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, died Saturday. He was 84. — Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower …

Discussion: Althouse and Jules Crittenden

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

Soldiers of the Queen, cont. — Re Fred Thompson and David Freddoso's remarks on who spilled more blood, I've had a remarkable number of emails along the lines of the following: … So now we're arguing about what proportion of a nation's war dead died in direct defense of its national territory …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden

Newsweek:

Terror: Al Qaeda's Feuds and Fears — Lonely, marginalized and suddenly suspicious that he was losing his grip over the organization he helped create, Osama bin Laden finally decided that enough was enough. At least that's the explanation sources close to him are giving for why …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Washington Monthly

Investor's Business Daily:

The 'Old' Consensus? — Climate Change: Did NASA scientist James Hansen, the global warming alarmist in chief, once believe we were headed for . . . an ice age? An old Washington Post story indicates he did. — On July 9, 1971, the Post published a story headlined "U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming."

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and 'Okie' on the Lam

David Margolick / New York Times:

The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise — FIFTY years ago this week, all eyes were on Little Rock, Ark., where nine black students were trying, for the first time, to desegregate a major Southern high school. With fewer than 150 blacks, the town of Grand Forks, N.D., hardly figured to be a key front …

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Romney, your campaign 'change agent' — MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — If there was any doubt before now, Mitt Romney made plain today his intent to run as a change agent against a political establishment that he argues is failing the country. — In a lunchtime speech to over a thousand Michigan …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Associated Press

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Rulz — Village rule number one: — You can't employ a play on words that any Republican might be able to use as an excuse to run to the fainting couch and have a good old-fashioned cry. Democrats must be as bland and technocratic as humanly possible in their political rhetoric.

Discussion: Media Matters for America