memeorandum: The Islamic Reformation (Guardian)

4:10 PM ET, September 28, 2007

Top Items:

What Limbaugh Said — The folks on the Left are beside themselves today—thinking that by dint of a truncated quote, they will succeed in shutting down Rush Limbaugh and taking him off the air. Before lining up next to the folks from Crooks and Liars, FireDogLake, Media Matters, ThinkProgress …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Hot Air, Think Progress, The Carpetbagger Report, Jules Crittenden, Firedoglake, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, PoliBlog (TM), All Spin Zone, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Taylor Marsh, Dyre Portents, HorsesAss.Org, Thought Theater and The Gun Toting Liberal™

CNN Political Ticker:

Dems seize on Limbaugh's 'phony soldiers' comment — WASHINGTON (CNN) — In the wake of the high-profile uproar from Republicans over a MoveOn.org ad attacking Gen. David Petraeus, Democrats are seizing on recent comments from popular conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh …

Discussion: The Swamp and No More Mister Nice Blog

Huffington Post:

Audio: Limbaugh Calls Iraq Vet "Staff Puke," Claims He Volunteered For War "To Pad [His] Resume" — Audio has surfaced of Rush Limbaugh viciously attacking another Iraq war veteran who was critical of President Bush's war policy. — Paul Hackett served in the 1st Marine Division in Ramadi and Fallujah during 2004 and 2005.

Discussion: Horses Mouth, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:

Rush Limbaugh Troops Controversy, Media Matters, Bill O'Reilly — NEXT STOP: RUSHVILLE — Mainstream Media's Smear Train Chugs Along — Not content to wait until Bill O'Reilly's hoped- for demise, the George Soros- funded Media Matters / mainstream media smear machine has added a second target: Rush Limbaugh.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Corner, Media Matters for America, Dean's World, BLACKFIVE and NewsBusters.org

Faiz / Think Progress:

Senate Democratic Leaders Demand Apology For Limbaugh's 'Outrageous,' 'Unconscionable' Remarks — ThinkProgress has obtained a letter being circulated on Capitol Hill today by the Senate Democratic Leadership that calls on Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays to repudiate its employee Rush Limbaugh's "phony troops" remark.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh and TPM Election Central

Horses Mouth:

As you all know, Rush Limbaugh is now coming under fire for saying that troops who favor U.S. withdrawal from Iraq are "phony soldiers." — As you also know, President Bush was recently asked at a press conference to comment on the MoveOn ad attacking Mighty Scholar-Warrior Petraeus.

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:

Dems unite to slam Limbaugh, GOP silent — As a rule, Democrats and their allies are a little slow when it comes to organized outrage. A high-profile Republican will say or do something that most decent Americans would find outrageous, progressive blogs will call him or her on it …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, News Hounds, The American Street, Crooks and Liars, Macsmind, Think Progress, The Stakeholder, AMERICAblog, Chris Dodd National Blog, The Mahablog and Central Sanity

RushLimbaugh.com Home:
How Long Is Too Long for Victory?

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Flopping Aces, Right Wing Nut House, Wake up America, The Rude Pundit, Outside The Beltway, Right Wing News, JammieWearingFool and The Atlantic Online

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Breaking: White House Faults Rush Limbaugh Over "Phony Soldiers" Comment

Discussion: Corrente

Michael Roston / Huffington Post:

Congresswoman Pressed MSNBC For Retraction On Soldier Killed In Iraq — Staff for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who could not name the last soldier from her district killed in Iraq during an appearance on MSNBC, acknowledged they sought a retraction from the network after the incident occurred.

Discussion: Eschaton, TalkLeft, Firedoglake, mediabistro.com, Daily Kos, NewsBusters.org and Taylor Marsh

Anne Schroeder / The Politico:

MSNB-No? — Looks like MSNBC correspondent David Shuster may have deprived loyal MSNBC viewers of their favorite GOP talking heads — at least for now. — This week, the MSNBC reporter "sandbagged" Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) during an interview by asking her to name the last solider from her district to die in Iraq.

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, CBS News and INSTAPUTZ

Patrick / mediabistro.com:
Report: Bohannon's "last legal address was in Blackburn's district."

Discussion: INSTAPUTZ, Commercial Appeal and Instapundit.com

PageOneQ.com Latest:

US Congressman owned home with another man, took DC tax deduction while voting in NC — Congressman Patrick T. McHenry (R-NC), right, purchased a residence in Washington, DC's Capital Hill neighborhood with another man, PageOneQ has learned. While he owned the home, McHenry …

Discussion: Right Voices, The BRAD BLOG, DownWithTyranny!, Shakespeare's Sister, BlueNC and Scrutiny Hooligans

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Hired Gun Fetish — Sometimes it seems that the only way to make sense of the Bush administration is to imagine that it's a vast experiment concocted by mad political scientists who want to see what happens if a nation systematically ignores everything we've learned over the past few centuries …

Discussion: Scrutiny Hooligans, Norwegianity, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, WorkingForChange and Middle Earth Journal

Washington Post:
Blackwater Faced Bedlam, Embassy Finds

Discussion: New York Times, Talking Points Memo, TPMmuckraker and Think Progress

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

$600K aimed at Clinton — Sensing that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) will win the Democratic presidential nomination, Republican Party operatives are stepping up their political attacks on the former first lady but are wary of going too far with their criticisms because she is a woman.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, TPM Election Central and TIME

Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:
Clinton: $5,000 for every U.S. baby

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and National Review

Guardian:

The Islamic Reformation — Those who call for an Islamic 'Reformation' are missing the point: it has already happened, unfortunately. — Since 2001 a plethora of writers have made calls for an Islamic "Reformation". Many hopes (and careers) are pinned on the idea, but there is no such thing coming.

Discussion: Secular Blasphemy, Neptunus Lex, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, RealClearPolitics, Ali Eteraz and Dean's World

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Gingrich takes step toward '08 run — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will open a website by Monday in an effort to round up the $30 million in pledges that he says would be his ticket to entering the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Bluey Blog and The Influence Peddler

Times of London:

The day Burma was silenced — The junta showed a subtle and malignant cunning, and then moved against the monks — Burma's generals silenced the Buddhist monks yesterday morning. — For a week and a half, the monks had been on the streets of Rangoon in their tens of thousands …

Discussion: BBC, The Democratic Daily, Washington Post, Attytood, POLITOPICS and Secular Blasphemy

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

Leading GOP Candidates Skip Debate on Black Issues — 4 Contenders Attend Fundraisers Instead — Fred D. Thompson was at a fundraiser in Franklin, Tenn. Mitt Romney was gathering checks in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Rudolph W. Giuliani was in California raking in some last-minute cash just north of Napa.