memeorandum: Kristol's Dark Humor: Bush's 'Heartless Assault On Our Children' Is 'A Good Idea' (Matt/Think Progress)

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

9/11 Is Over — Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this: — "At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11.

Discussion: Eschaton, The Strata-Sphere, The Newshoggers, the talking dog, Sister Toldjah, The Oxford Medievalist, Wizbang, Riehl World View, Conservative Belle, Booman Tribune, Middle Earth Journal, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, PrairiePundit, All Spin Zone, Corrente and Thomas P.M. Barnett

Jules Crittenden:

Nation of Stupid — Tom Friedman: "9/11 has made us stupid." — Sure has made some people stupid, no question. Friedman is writing against Giuliani as the "9/11″ candidate, saying we need a 9/12 candidate. Which, as an attempt to be clever, is pretty stupid, too. 9/12, you'll recall, was the day after 9/11.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM) and BartBlog

Warner Todd Huston / Stop The ACLU:

NYTimes: Thomas Friedman Wants America to Get Over 9/11 — Thomas Friedman thinks you are "stupid" if you still care about the atrocity committed against this country by Islamofascists in New York on 9/11/2001. He thinks "9/11 is over" and we all should just move on.

Discussion: Don Surber, JammieWearingFool and If I Ran the Zoo

Seymour M. Hersh / New Yorker:

SHIFTING TARGETS — The Administration's plan for Iran. … In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran.

Discussion: Firedoglake, A Tiny Revolution and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:

MCCAIN STUMBLES ON RELIGION — AGAIN — Perhaps the moral of the story is that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would be far better off avoiding religion as a campaign issue. It's been dogging him for years, and his fall from grace continues. — In 2000, the Arizona senator gambled …

Discussion: Eschaton

Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:

McCain: No Muslim president, U.S. better with Christian one — GOP presidential candidate John McCain says America is better off with a Christian President and he doesn't want a Muslim in the Oval Office. — "I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it," he said.

Discussion: The Right's Field, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Take Our Country Back, Jihad Watch, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Liberal Values, The Heretik, The American Street, Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs

Frank Rich / New York Times:

Is Hillary Clinton the New Old Al Gore? — THE Democrats can't lose the White House in 2008, can they? — Some 13 months before Election Day, the race's dynamic seems immutable. Americans can't wait to evict the unpopular president and end his disastrous war.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Norwegianity, No More Mister Nice Blog, TIME: Swampland, Donklephant and Ezra Klein

Matt / Think Progress:

Kristol's Dark Humor: Bush's 'Heartless Assault On Our Children' Is 'A Good Idea' — On Fox News Sunday this morning, NPR's Mara Liasson said that President Bush's expected veto of an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which passed both the House and Senate …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Associated Press:

Report: Countrywide CEO Cashed Out — LA Times: Angelo Mozilo Cashed In $138 Million In Options Before Crash — (AP) Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went …

Agence France Presse:

US military deaths in Iraq lowest in 14 months — US military losses in Iraq for September stood at 70 on Sunday, the lowest monthly figure since July last year, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures. — The figure also marks the fourth consecutive drop in the monthly death toll following a high of 121 in May.

Discussion: Power Line and PrairiePundit

Opinion Journal:

Surveillance Showdown — "Privacy" zealots want America to forgo intelligence capabilities during wartime. — Would any sane country purposefully limit its ability to spy on enemy communications in time of war? That is the question Congress must answer as it takes up reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Discussion: Let Freedom Ring, PrairiePundit and SWJ Blog

Orlando Patterson / New York Times:

Jena, O. J. and the Jailing of Black America — THE miscarriage of justice at Jena, La. — where five black high school students arrested for beating a white student were charged with attempted murder — and the resulting protest march tempts us to the view, expressed by several of the marchers …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

The Nepotism Tango — Maybe it's fitting that a woman who first sashayed into the national consciousness with an equation — "two for the price of one" — may have her fate determined by the arithmetic of dynasty. — The town is divided into two camps: those who think that …

Simon Walters / Daily Mail:

I hate all Iranians, US aide tells MPs — Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians." — And she also accused Britain of "dismantling" the Anglo-US-led coalition …

Discussion: The Newshoggers