memeorandum: Senate Rules panel moves controversial FEC pick (Susan Crabtree/The Hill)

9:20 PM ET, September 26, 2007

Top Items:

Couric weighs in on Iraq, Rather — Her take on the news — Speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday evening, CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric pulled back the curtain on her personal views of both the war in Iraq and former "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Weekly Standard, Commentary, Brilliant at Breakfast, Macsmind, Think Progress, Flopping Aces, Patterico's Pontifications, The Jawa Report, PoliPundit.com, Hot Air, Right Voices, My Left Wing, Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers, The Globe and Mail and Shakespeare's Sister

Yeas & Nays:

Rather chokes up, and hunkers down — "I'm not in this — mostly — with anybody else." — Former CBS "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather choked back tears on several occasions today when discussing his decision to file a lawsuit against CBS and he left many audience members with a sense …

Discussion: Roger L. Simon and Cliff Schecter

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Dan Rather is right

Discussion: Liberal Values, TalkLeft and The Democratic Daily

Greg Gordon / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Ohio, Florida laws could dampen Democratic voting — WASHINGTON — Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush's two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede Democratic-leaning minorities from voting in 2008.

Discussion: Comments From Left Field, The BRAD BLOG, Corrente, Sister Toldjah and Prairie Weather

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Dem Defection Sends Voter Fraud Guru to Full Senate — As I reported yesterday, the Senate Rules Committee met this morning about the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Elections Commission. — This morning's result: faced with the defection of a Democrat on the committee …

Discussion: Think Progress, Booman Tribune and The Carpetbagger Report

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Senate Rules panel moves controversial FEC pick

Discussion: Firedoglake and Daily Kos

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Do Not Vote for This Guy

Discussion: Think Progress, The BRAD BLOG, The Carpetbagger Report, Lawyers, Guns and Money and MoJoBlog

Greg Sargent / Election Central:

Kyl-Lieberman Iran Amendment Passes By Huge Margin — The Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment — which ratchets up the confrontation with Iran by calling for the designation of its Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops — just passed overwhelmingly, 76-22.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Left in the West, Talking Points Memo, On Deadline, MyDD, Comments From Left Field, The Carpetbagger Report, NO QUARTER, The Politico and Agence France Presse

Think Progress:

BREAKING: Lieberman-Kyl's Iran amendment passes. — By a vote 76-22, the Senate passed the Lieberman-Kyl amendment, which threatens to "combat, contain and [stop]" Iran via "military instruments." Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) called the amendment "Cheney's fondest pipe dream" and said it could …

Discussion: U.S. Senate, Taylor Marsh, My Left Nutmeg, Booman Tribune, CommonDreams.org, Open Left, CANNONFIRE, Corrente, TalkLeft, Wake up America and TPM Election Central

Martin Kady II / The Politico:
Softened Iran resolution passes Senate

Discussion: The Swamp

David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:

Rudy Giuliani fires chief fundraiser — In a sign of potential money woes, Rudy Giuliani has fired his presidential campaign's chief fundraiser and brought in a top rainmaker for President Bush, The Daily News has learned. — Anne Dunsmore, who took control of Giuliani's …

Discussion: Eschaton, The Trail, The Caucus, The Atlantic Online and PoliPundit.com

CNN Political Ticker:

Giuliani catches Romney in New Hampshire — HANOVER, New Hampshire (CNN) — It's a dead heat in New Hampshire, according to our new poll of likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters. — Mitt Romney's lead in the battle for the GOP presidential nomination in the all important Granite State …

Discussion: The Politico, MyDD, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Pollster.com

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Rudy makes change atop finance team

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker and MSNBC

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:

Fallen Soldier MSNBC Used for 'Gotcha' Game With Rep. Blackburn Did Not Live in Her District — UPDATE — SHUSTER APOLOGIZES: At 6:44 PM EDT, MSNBC broke into the Tucker Carlson show to air a terse apology from Shuster. See "My Take" below. — View video of Shuster apology here.

Discussion: Redstate, Hot Air, Media Blog, Conservative Belle, Webloggin, The American Pundit, The Corner and INSTAPUTZ

Mark Hemingway / The Corner:
Gotcha! Err, maybe not...

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Editor and Publisher:

Scoop for Spanish Daily: Transcript of Private 2003 Bush Talk Promising Iraq Invasion — NEW YORK El Pais, the highest-circulation daily in Spain, today published what it said was the transcript of a private talk between President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on February 22 …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, MoJoBlog, The Moderate Voice and The American Street

Ali / Think Progress:
Spanish Notes Reveal Bush Was Hell-Bent On War, Despite Claiming 'I've …

Discussion: Mercury Rising

Kcurie / European Tribune:
Bush words. Big Scoop.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Discourse.net and AfterDowningStreet.org

Reuters:

"Childrens do learn," Bush tells school kids — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Offering a grammar lesson guaranteed to make any English teacher cringe, President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: "Childrens do learn." — Bush made his latest grammatical slip …

Discussion: Comments From Left Field and The Rachel Maddow Show

Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Bush: No Child Left Behind Is Working

Discussion: The Gate

Richard Stengel / Time:

My Dinner with Ahmadinejad — The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran "requests the pleasure" of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Reuters, Payvand Iran News, Hot Air, On Deadline, Publius Pundit, Eunomia, bustardblog and Babalu Blog

Michelle Malkin:
Who are the bed-wetters? — A left-wing screed by one Rick Perlstein …

Discussion: Norwegianity, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Done With Mirrors, New York Sun, Sister Toldjah, Liberty Street, Webloggin, Blue Crab Boulevard, Reason Magazine, ProgressiveHistorians, Daniel W. Drezner and Right Wing Nut House

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

First Read: Biden's Iraq resolution passes — From NBC's Ken Strickland — In a strong rebuff to the Bush Administration on Iraq, the Senate overwhelming approved a plan by Biden that essentially calls for breaking Iraq into three sections: Kurd, Sunni, and Shia.

Discussion: Hot Air, Comments From Left Field, Taylor Marsh, Gateway Pundit, The American Pundit and The American Street

DemHillStaffer / Daily Kos:

Breaking: House Votes to Condemn MoveOn — Using a procedural move, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis, just got a vote on an amendment that condemns MoveOn, by name, for the Petraeus ad. — What's worse? Most Democrats voted for it!!!

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, DownWithTyranny!, Democrats.com, Wake up America, IMAO, BlueNC and The American Street

CNN:

Source: Craig won't resign if judge hasn't ruled — EDINA, Minnesota (CNN) — Sen. Larry Craig won't resign from the Senate while awaiting a judge's ruling on his effort to get a guilty plea withdrawn in a restroom sex sting, a source said Wednesday. — A judge in Minnesota was to hear arguments Wednesday afternoon in the case.